The man was convicted of shooting a woman and leaving her body in the parking lot of a motel.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday denied the appeal of convicted murderer Anthony Pratt Jr., who fatally shot a woman in the neck in Portland and left her body in the back of her SUV in a motel parking lot.
Pratt, 22, who was a drug dealer from Far Rockaway, New York, argued in his appeal that the judge in his 2014 trial should not have allowed jurors to listen to a recorded police interview in New York in which the lead detective investigating Margarita Fisenko Scott’s death repeatedly called Pratt a liar.
The panel of six justices ruled unanimously against Pratt’s appeal less than two months after they heard arguments from his attorney, Jamesa Drake, and a prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber.
“Although the recording was adverse to Pratt’s cause, it was also probative concerning the central issue at trial – whether it was Pratt or someone else who murdered the victim,” Justice Andrew Mead wrote in the 15-page decision. “From the interview, the jury could conclude that Pratt’s responses to questions were inconsistent and that some of his actions were insufficiently explained; if it did so, the jury would logically consider the next question: why Pratt answered and behaved that way if he had not committed the crime.”
Pratt was convicted of shooting Scott, 29, on Nov. 11, 2012, in the living room of an apartment at 266 West Concord St., where he was living with a couple he knew from New York City.
Police say Pratt killed Scott, cleaned up the blood and disposed of her body.
Pratt was sentenced on Nov. 14, 2014, to serve 42 years in prison.
Scott’s husband, Cary Scott, testified at trial that he didn’t know his wife was dead until he discovered her body more than two months later in the back of a Chevrolet Trailblazer in the parking lot of the Motel 6 on Riverside Street in Portland.
Police tied Pratt to the killing in part through his DNA, which was found on a piece of chewed gum used to plug a bullet hole in the wall of the apartment where Scott was killed.
Pratt was also seen assaulting Scott on the day of the killing.
Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:
Twitter: @scottddolan
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