Steven Pratt, the man accused of beating his mother to death less than two days after being released from prison for another murder, admitted to the crime yesterday at his arraignment in New Jersey. The 45-year-old wept, and despite the judge advising him not to speak without an attorney present, he said, "I don't want a trial. I'm guilty. ... I have failed. ... I have no lawyer. I have nobody." When his bail was set at $1 million, he said it "doesn't matter," the Philadelphia Daily News reports.
Pratt's uncle, the brother of Pratt's mother, said Gwendolyn Pratt was excited when her son was released Friday and took him to IHOP after picking him up at Bayside State Prison. She also threw him a welcome-home party at her house in Atlantic City that night, but on Sunday morning, police were called to the house to find the 64-year-old dead. Pratt had served 30 years for shooting and killing a neighbor in 1984. The Press of Atlantic City notes that a few months ago, Pratt reportedly passed on an offer to go to a halfway house where he could ready himself for his release. (More murder stories.)