TOWANDA — A jury deliberated for only 30 minutes to find Terry Parker guilty of the first-degree murder of Michael Pruitt. Shortly after the four-day trial ended on Thursday, Bradford County Judge Evan Williams III sentenced Parker to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Parker was also sentenced to seven to 20 months in prison for abusing a corpse and five to 24 months in prison for tampering with evidence.

Parker was arrested March 11, 2024, for shooting and killing Pruitt three days prior and then dismembering his body with an axe and burning the pieces in a trash pit.

Terry Parker shot Pruitt multiple times, including at least two times in the head after Pruitt fell to the floor. He and Ronda Parker then dragged the body to the trunk of Terry Parker’s car and drove to Harrisburg before returning two days later with Summer Heil to dismember and burn the body.

The Morning Times reports that outside of the courthouse, a large security contingent with rifles and body armor was present for each day of the proceedings. Wilson said the heightened security was due to the nature of the case, Terry Parker’s previous criminal convictions and his connections to the Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-Nazi prison gang. Those connections raised concerns about the possibility of interventions, he said.

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1 hour ago, Elmira Telegram said:

Wilson said the heightened security was due to the nature of the case, Terry Parker’s previous criminal convictions and his connections to the Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-Nazi prison gang.

Well, that explains that then!