Murder charges are one family's tradition

When state police charged Leonard Marvin Pritchett in the murder of a Hempfield Township woman Friday, he became the third member of his family to be accused of homicide.

Two of Pritchett's cousins are serving prison terms for murder convictions.

Tiffany Pritchett, 29, who is in the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, is seeking a new trial for the 1993 murder of Troy Groomes.

Avery Pritchett, 20, of Jefferson, Washington County, was found guilty of third-degree murder Sept. 21 by Greene County Judge H. Terry Grimes. That ruling came after Avery Pritchett pleaded guilty to a general charge of homicide in August for the Sept. 28, 2004, murder of his girlfriend, Vicki Kennedy, 18, of Jefferson.

Avery Pritchett was sentenced to 20 to 40 years' imprisonment.

Leonard Pritchett is accused of murdering Patricia Ann "Tricia" Collier, 19, of 486 Old Route 66.

Collier was found dead in her home Oct. 5 with a gunshot wound to the head. She was discovered by her sister, who became worried after Collier didn't show up for work earlier that day.

Leonard Pritchett is being held without bond in the Westmoreland County Prison. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Mary DiClaudio, of Jeannette.

Pritchett was arrested after state police discovered a tape recorder on the front seat of Collier's car. Authorities said a voice on the tape allegedly implicated Pritchett in the murder.

Tiffany Pritchett's mother, Brenda Johnson, says her daughter is in jail for a crime she did not commit. Tiffany Pritchett was just 17 when she was convicted in the shooting death of Groomes, 25, whose frozen body was found near Thompson Avenue in Donora on Jan. 3, 1994. He died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Attorney Noah Geary, of Washington, claims Tiffany Pritchett's previous lawyers provided inadequate representation at her trial.

Washington County Senior Judge Clinton E. Smith, of Lycoming County, is expected to rule on Geary's request for a new trial.

Donora police Superintendent Jim Brice said while all three of the cousins were from Donora originally, only Leonard Pritchett had a criminal history in the borough.

"Leonard's problems in Donora were mostly juvenile stuff," Brice said. "By the time he was of age, he was out of Donora."