BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Deven Pratt of Cool Ridge pled guilty to Second Degree Murder on Thursday in Raleigh County Circuit Court.
The plea comes as a result of a 2020 incident in which Pratt was charged with the shooting of Ronnie Lee Barker III on the morning of Christmas Day.
According to reports, Pratt fired a handgun from within his Blackhawk Lane residence, striking Barker.
Pratt states that he fired in Barker’s direction following an altercation between Barker and a female at the residence.
Investigations of the scene by law enforcement concluded that the victim was struck approximately 90 feet from where the shot was fired.
The victim is concluded to have been leaving the residence on foot at the time of the shooting, and was determined to have been posing no threat to Pratt or to anyone else at the residence at the time of the incident.
Barker was transported from the scene by EMS for emergency care following the incident, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries at Raleigh General Hospital.
The Honorable Judge Robert A. Burnside, Jr. presided over Thursday’s hearing, and the investigation was led by Detective H.W. Long of the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department.
Pratt is scheduled to return to Raleigh County Circuit Court for sentencing at a 9:00am hearing to be held August 18, 2022, where he will face up to 40 years in prison.
LOOTPRESS coverage of the story as it developed can be found here.
