A 45-year-old man who on Friday finished serving 30 years in prison is charged with killing his mother two days after being released, authorities said.
Steven Pratt was arrested Sunday morning, less than 48 hours after he was freed from Bayside State Prison for killing his neighbor in 1984.
Gwendolyn Pratt, 64, was found dead in her McKinley Avenue home around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain said. She died of massive blunt injuries to her head.
A welcome-home party for Steven Pratt had just been held, PressofAC.com reported.
Pratt was tried as an adult after shooting Michael Anderson in a Carver Hall apartment building in Atlantic City 30 years ago, according to the website.
According to court records, Pratt and Anderson argued after Pratt and some of his friends refused to leave an apartment hallway where they were noisily hanging out. Pratt returned to Andersons apartment with a lead pipe, but Anderson took the weapon away and bloodied Pratts face.
Pratt then returned with a borrowed handgun and shot Anderson.
He is now being held in lieu of $1 million bail, the prosecutor said.
This is why we need the death penalty administered quickly and without the levels of confusing judicial bureaucracy.