Mothers make pleas for sons at homicide sentencing

The mothers each stood before the judge, pleading for justice and mercy for their sons.

Theresa Pritchett said hers was kind and generous, a young but devoted father who left seven children behind. Sheronda Terry said hers was hardworking, a sports medicine student at Clarion University on a Pittsburgh Promise scholarship.

That was before the Mother’s Day barbecue almost two years ago, when, in the throes of a psychotic episode, Brett Terry, 21, said he killed Jamar Thomas, 26.

“We do need to send a message, but this was not of his sound or right mind,” Sheronda Terry said, sobbing, to Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kelly E. Bigley.

Then she turned to Ms. Pritchett. “I’m so sorry. I pray for you every day.”

During a brief sentencing hearing Wednesday, Terry was ordered to serve between 7½ and 15 years in prison for the May 2015 killing. He said he has since been diagnosed with

multiple mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

“I accept my consequences, whatever it may be,” said Terry, who stood at the front of the courtroom in a red prison jumpsuit, as he addressed the court. “If I were to get a chance to replay that day in my normal state of mind, none of that would have happened.”

But Ms. Pritchett asked that Terry be given the maximum sentence the law allows.

Although Terry and Jamar Thomas did not know each other before the shooting, Ms. Pritchett said she had met Terry through her daughter, and said Terry had even been at some family gatherings. She acknowledged that she had come to care for him like family.

“I want you to be happy and healthy,” she told Terry. “But I want you to serve your time. I want justice for my son.”

Terry, of Lincoln-Lemington, was 19 when he pulled out a stolen revolver and fired multiple shots at Mr. Thomas during a picnic on Collins Avenue in East Liberty. An officer patrolling the area rushed to the scene after she heard gunshots and screaming. According to a criminal complaint, Terry and Mr. Thomas “had words” before Terry left, got the gun and pulled the trigger. Mr. Thomas was killed and his 16-year-old brother was grazed in the stomach.

Police took Terry into custody and transported him to a psychiatric treatment facility, where he spent time before he was deemed competent to stand trial. In December, he pleaded guilty to one count each of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and a firearms charge.

Ms. Terry said her family noticed something was wrong with her son in April 2015. In an interview shortly after the shooting, she told the Post-Gazette he became paranoid and spoke of demons. She took her son to Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, where he was given some medicine and scheduled for follow-up appointments. But obviously, she told the judge, the doctors weren’t able to do enough.

“We’re asking for your mercy and grace in your judgment,” Ms. Terry told the judge. “We’ve already been let down by our first attempt at help, which led to this catastrophe.”

Ms. Pritchett acknowledged that Terry was unwell but said she still has to explain to her grandchildren that their father isn’t coming home. She is in counseling along with her other son. Three of Mr. Thomas’ children, of whom he was primary caregiver, are now in foster care.

“You didn’t kill one person,” she told Terry. “You killed a whole family. My whole family is ruined.”

“I still care for him,” Ms. Pritchett told the judge. “But I want the max.”

Terry said he believes his mental illness is not an excuse, but an explanation for his actions that day.

“I simply ask today that when you judge me, judge me today, not me on Mother’s Day, May 10, 2015,” he told Judge Bigley.

The judge said she handed down a lighter sentence on the scale of what was allowed by the law, calling the shooting “tragic” and “inexplicable even to this day.”

Hopefully, the judge added, the time he spends in prison will allow him to get the help he needs and also allow him time later to contribute to society.

“You clearly had a handle on your life, when no one would have expected you to,” Judge Bigley said. “And then something flew off the handle.”