Mental test ordered in shooting of girl, 6

The Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 7/28/06 | Staff

[Sybeck1]

OXFORD, Miss. -- A mental evaluation was ordered Thursday for Michael Pruitt, who is accused of kidnapping and shooting a 6-year-old Marshall County girl.

During the hearing in Lafayette County Circuit Court, defense attorney John L. Dolan asked that the issue of bond be taken up at a later date.

Dolan also requested a mental evaluation for Pruitt and Asst. Dist. Atty. Lelani Hill agreed to the request. Pruitt will remain in jail until the mental evaluation can be scheduled, officials said.

"Due to the nature of the charges, the state does not have any objections," Hill told Circuit Judge Andrew Howorth.

Pruitt is charged with kidnapping the child from her home in the Laws Hill community last Saturday. He was also charged with sexual battery and aggravated assault for allegedly shooting the child in the head.

The girl was found Sunday in underbrush behind an abandoned house off a county road near the Cayce community after Pruitt led law enforcement officers to her and the gun.

The unidentified girl is at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis recovering from surgery for the head wound.

Following the hearing, Dolan said Pruitt needed to be evaluated by a mental health professional "to give all parties a clear picture of the state of mind he was in at the time of the alleged offense and afterwards."

The delay in the bond hearing was to give more time for an investigation into the events and to ensure the safety of Pruitt, Dolan said.

"I do not have a full file yet, and the sheriff's only 100 hours into investigation," he said. "There's an absence of sufficient factual information necessary for a bond hearing."

Dolan also said he would be concerned for his client's safety were Pruitt to be released from custody.

Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.

[Sybeck1]

Michael Pruitt enters the courtroom in Oxford, Miss., for Thursday's hearing. The 6-year-old victim, hospitalized in Memphis, is being treated for a gunshot wound to the head.

[Sybeck1]

Many in Marshall County want to serve a little down home Mississippi justice on this guy.

[billhilly]

Why did they give him a bullet proof vest?

[Sybeck1]

Still wondering myself how this makes it into chat, but two Laura Ingram vanities being on BOR are in News/Activism.

[vetvetdoug]

Several years ago in an adjacent county a deranged psycho murdered a popular female senior high school student and mutilated her horribly. That deranged individual had to wear a vest for good reason, many locals from Tippah County vowed to kill the sicko before the justice system got him. They had to really have security because the ones that vowed to kill him were sincere and capable.

[Zeroisanumber]

"I wonder if I'll crap my pants when they throw the switch?"

[AnnaZ]

Officials so "feared" for the "safety" of Alejandro Avila, the vicious rapist and murderer of Samantha Runnion in California, that his presence at initial hearings was provided by closed-circuit television.

[SuziQ]

Dolan also said he would be concerned for his client's safety were Pruitt to be released from custody.

Now THAT'S the understatement of the year!

[Sybeck1]

Was there a movie of the week made about her killing?

[bourbon]

Is the little girl expected to survive? What were the extent of her injuries and what are the chances for her recovery?

This is such an awful story.

[bourbon]

Strange. The story a few weeks ago about the guy that cut off his unit in front of a Catholic church in Rankin Co. was also thrown into 'chat.'

I'm sorry, but in my neck of the woods that counts as news. So does the attempted murder of a child.

[vetvetdoug]

Not that I know of. The perp is sitting on death row here in Ms right now. I assisted in the search of the creep because he went into the woods around Faulkner and Chalybete, Ms, and many of us went after him on horseback. There were hundreds chasing him and finally caught him. It happened on a Saturday in January somewhere around 1993.

[Sybeck1]

I'm thinking now of a crime of passion between a girl and a boy that might involved killing her parents. It was in
Alcorn county or near by. Ripley was sometimes a cruising spot for me growing up, as I came over from Holly Springs. Went to First Monday also. I live in Desoto now, but home will always be Marshall county.

[vetvetdoug]

I live in Alcorn County. Home of the Dixie Mafia, pharmoney, the county with the most home insurance fraud in the US (mortgage companies will not loan to Alcorn County), home of the most Medicare fraud in the US, home of the man who laundered Marty Frankels' money from insurance theft($3 Billion), home of massive USDA and Agriculture fraud, and home of the most dangerous county in Mississippi in which to drive. Home of the Ms Speaker of the House. I am sure we have more accolades, but these are the ones that come to mind immediately. In a county with only a 20K population, Alcorn County escapades impact the entire country in a way that is unimaginable.