Murder suspects get two lawyers each
Eighteen-year-old Michael Stuart Pritchett (right) appeared on a video screen yesterday at 12:55pm, five minutes before the capital murder suspect was scheduled to have a hearing. However, the Charlottesville General District Court hadn’t finished the misdemeanor trials of two young adults alleging police overreaction in their arrest.
So after nearly twenty minutes of watching the motionless image of Pritchett on the screen, wearing his striped jail jumpsuit, friends and family members strolled outside to Market Street. His hearing took place quietly and apparently without live input from him or his co-defendant, 22-year-old William Douglas Gentry Jr. (left), in the November 8 murder of Jayne McGowan.
Joining Rhonda Quagliana for Pritchett’s defense is Steve Rosenfield. Joining Lloyd Snook to defend Gentry is Richard Davis. The two suspects preliminary hearing is set for Valentine’s Day, February 14.
Pritchett’s friends and family declined comment, as did the woman who has been described as Gentry’s fiancée, Jenna Critzer, who, sitting beside her mother near the back of the courtroom, stared down with her chin tucked against her chest.
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