After listening again to the victim's testimony, the jury in the Christopher Luke Pratt assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful imprisonment, domestic violence and interfering with a telephone communication trial found him guilty on all four counts at 10:12 a.m. today. Pratt reportedly sat emotionless as the foreman read the verdicts. He could get up to 15 years in prison at sentencing Jan. 7.
"Marshall's a lot safer place now with him off the streets," said father of missing Marshall woman and former Pratt girlfriend, Mary Lands. "Mary was treated the exact same way as these women (current victim and former wife who testified.) She had broken bones - broken toes and broken fingers."
Marshall said after leaving court this morning after the verdicts, he stopped at the sign asking Where is Mary? on Michigan Avenue, got out, jumped up and down and said, "Justice is coming for you, babe."
5 comments:
The jurors in this case are to be praised for their hard work and dedication in bringing this case to justice and finding Chris Pratt guilty on all 4 charges. It is our civic duty and the right of all american people to be judged by their peers. These jurors took the appropriate amount of time to review the evidence and testimony in this case. Before convicting someone on such serious charges, they wanted to be sure of all of the evidence and not make a mistake which is what they did in this case. We can only say that we are ecstatic and overjoyed about the conviction. We can imagine what violence Mary went through during her time with Chris Pratt and what he ultimately did to her in the end. Even though we are overjoyed, our hearts are extremely heavy. Heavy that Su and Noreen had to endure this pain and suffering and extremely heavy that our beloved Mary was also victimized and paid the ultimate price with her life, that being her death. Maybe now those who have the critical information we need that will bring her home so that she can rest in peace will come forward and share that information. Help us to bring Mary home. What goes around comes around, what you reap so shall you sow. Our goal is to bring Mary home. I just want to give a special thanks to Jim Carlin whose dedication, efforts and tenacious fight on our behalf has given us the hope we need to carry on and fight for justice for not only Mary, but those who were also victims. Jim, we wouldn't be where we are today without you! And many many thanks to all of you who have been there with us through thick and thin, the good times and the bad times. Who have fought to find Mary, who have given us their love and support and a shoulder to cry on the past 4 years! With you, we will find Mary we just know it. There really aren't words enough we could say to Jim and to everyone else who have helped us and been there for us, just know that we love you all from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you and God Bless You! Mary's Family.
My heart cries whenever I think of Mary. She worked with me in the insurance billing dept at DayOne. I feel guilty that I was not more sensitive to what she was going through. I would see her come in with a broken toe,"stumbled on the rug," the broken arm, "fell while getting off the boat," and on the stories went. I moved from Michigan to South Carolina in February 2007, but have read everything I could on what was happening. My heart feels crushed whenever I think about Anita and Cliff and Mary's children. I pray that in the future I will always question a person with injuries, and may God make me more sensitive to the needs. I have prayed often for God to direct authorities to her body. One day it will happen. God hears our prayers.
I have no doubt the Chris Pratt killed Mary. I am so happy to hear that he is going to be sentenced; I hope for a long,long time.
God bless,
Lynn Hackworth
It is "conniving"... not "kniving"...
This paper is horrible. You take a quote from the victim in the story, a serious quote, and you turn it into a joke.
"But he was very charming, very kniving."
That is what you, not wrote, but published. It is an obscene lack of attention to detail and it makes the victim look foolish. In turn, when one considers the source, it makes this paper look foolish and in turn is one reason why J-Ad Corporation is forced to drop a copy, unsolicited, on my doorstep every Saturday rather than charge me fifty cents.
Such a serious story, for this victim, these families, this town and this community deserves better.
Coupled with the headline above the fold, regarding our public schools, and Mr. Sarpolus's comments on the local media coverage of school issues, I am considering a cease and desist order against J-Ad and their practice of littering my front porch with their Chronicle.
I apologize for the typo. I had intended to double check the spelling of that particular word but overlooked it prior to publishing. Thank you for reading and understanding that we are understaffed and working extra hard to keep our product viable during these tough economic times.
I think that if you wanted to stop the delivery of the Chronicle, all you would have to do it call the office and have it stopped. We do need a newspaper in town and I find that the paper gives our family good information on what is going on in our fair city. Sure, sometimes there may be a error, but look at all the news we get! Keep up the good work. Our high school sports gets coverage as well as what is happening on the school board and and the city. I find it much better than no coverage at all!
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