Judgment

Pratcher guilty of murder: Teen faces 50 years to life for killing Kelly

By Bruce Gerstman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

RICHMOND - A jury on Wednesday convicted Darren Pratcher of first-degree murder in the 2004 shooting death of former De La Salle football standout Terrance Kelly

Pratcher, 17, faces as much as 50 years to life in state prison.

When the clerk read the verdict, Pratcher's head fell toward the desk in front of him and he interlocked his fingers behind his neck. His hands shook.

Kelly's relatives and friends in the standing-room-only courtroom nodded their heads in agreement. Pratcher's brother, Larry Pratcher Jr., was escorted out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies when he made a comment, which was inaudible to most people in the courtroom.

Outside the courthouse, Kelly's father, Landrin Kelly, who attended each day of trial, spoke loudly, with tears streaming down his face.

"I don't feel better today than the day it happened," he said. "I'm not angry at the guy, because I believe in God. I want him to repent. His parents ... I'm sorry for them like they're sorry for me.

"But I want them to know I am still bleeding inside. That will never go away."

Pratcher was 15 when he shot 18-year-old Kelly, known as "T.K.," on Aug. 12, 2004, in Richmond, days before Kelly was to start at the University of Oregon on a football scholarship.

In the trial, senior deputy district attorney David Brown characterized Kelly's death as a "cold-blooded ambush." He said Pratcher targeted Kelly because he didn't like him and because he lived in a different neighborhood.

Testimony showed that Pratcher had borrowed a rifle earlier in the day and waited outside a home in the 300 block of Seventh Street in Richmond. A short time later, Kelly pulled up in front of the house to pick up the son of his father's girlfriend.

Pratcher approached the car and fired four bullets, cocking the rifle each time. Three bullets hit Kelly in the face and head. Another went into his back.

Witnesses testified that Pratcher got the gun because he was scared of a different man.

Pratcher had shot a teenage girl with a BB gun earlier in the day and believed the girl's father was out to get him.

Brown said at trial that Pratcher was waiting at the house with the intention of shooting somebody. Once he saw Kelly pull up, he decided to kill him.

Deputy public defender Jonathan Laba argued that his client, whom he called a boy, shot Kelly because he mistook him for the other man.

A psychologist who testified for the defense said Pratcher was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the shooting, which he had developed growing up in violent neighborhoods of Oakland and Richmond.

Laba asked the jury to hand down a verdict of voluntary manslaughter, which would have carried a finite sentence of as many as 21 years in prison.

The jury spent about five days deliberating. After the verdict, the jurors left the courthouse without comment.

Brown called Pratcher's stress disorder "fabricated."

"I didn't think post-traumatic stress disorder applied to this particular case," Brown said. "This was a contrived issue."

Laba declined to comment. "I'm not interested in talking now," he said.

The verdict upset Pratcher's parents.

"We're talking about our son. Our baby boy," said Muriel Pratcher, his mother. "It's heartbreaking. I'm just speechless."

Pratcher's father disagreed with the jury's decision.

"I think it's totally unfair," Larry Pratcher said. "(The killing) was not premeditated."

Pratcher's grandmother, who watched many days of the trial, said after the verdict that she is angry at her grandson, but still cares for him deeply.

"Justice was done," Bernice Moore said. "I love him."

Superior Court Judge Laurel Brady set Oct. 30 as Pratcher's sentencing date.

Reach Bruce Gerstman at 925-952-2670 or bgerstman@cctimes.com.