COOL RIDGE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The perpetrator of a 2020 Christmas Day shooting, Deven Pratt, was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday morning, the maximum sentence legally permissible in the case.
The sentencing follows a Thursday, June 16th hearing at which Pratt pled guilty to Second Degree Murder in Raleigh County Circuit Court for the shooting of Ronnie Lee Barker III on Christmas Day of 2020.
Reports from an investigation led by Detective H.W. Long of the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department indicated that Pratt had fired a handgun from within his residence at Blackhawk Lane, striking the victim approximately 90 feet from the origin point of the shot.
Statements from Pratt himself paint the scene of an altercation having taken place between the victim and a female at the Blackhawk residence.
Investigations of the scene concluded that the victim was leaving the residence on foot at the time of the incident, and was determined to have been posing no immediate threat to Pratt or to anyone else inside the residence.
Upon the arrival of first responder personnel following the shooting, Barker was transported from the scene by EMS for emergency medical care.
The victim was taken to Raleigh General Hospital, where he passed away as a result of his injuries.
Sentencing was scheduled following the June 16th hearing at which Pratt pled guilty to Second Degree Murder before the Honorable Judge Robert A. Burnside.
It was on that day the maximum sentence for Pratt’s crimes was set at 40 years in prison – a sentence which ultimately came to pass Thursday morning, as confirmed by Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield.
LOOTPRESS coverage of the development of this case can be found here.
26 year old gunman receives maximum sentence for 2020 murder of unarmed man
