UPDATE: Parole denied for Limestone man convicted in 1997 murders, DA comments

Published 11:37 am Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Parole was denied today for convicted murderer Brandon Keith Pratt in the 1997 murder of his estranged 18-year-old wife, Jessica Kilgore Pratt, and her friend, 19-year-old Billy Marshall “Bubba” Perry, at her apartment in the Reid community.

During a hearing today in Montgomery, members of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected Pratt’s request to be freed on parole. He was convicted in 2000 on two counts of capital murder and one count of first-degree burglary and sentenced to serve three-consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole. Since April 2000, Brandon has been serving his sentence in the Bibb County Correctional Facility in Brent. The March parole hearing will be Brandon’s second in his nearly 18 ½ years of incarceration, which includes time served in county jail and state prison.

Family of the victims along Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, Limestone County District Attorney Brian Jones and a group from Florence that provides assistance to family members of those killed in violent crimes had planned to attend the hearing to speak against Pratt’s release.

“I want to thank the board for listening to us speak against the early release of Brandon Pratt,” Jones told The News Courier following the hearing. “I want to thank them for the denial of parole. I hope that today will give a little measure of comfort to the victim’s families. As long as I am the district attorney, I will be there to object for them.”

Pratt was 20 at the time of the Oct. 13 fatal shootings and living in Athens. He had gone to Jessica’s apartment west of Athens and shot Bubba with a .30-.30 deer rifle as he tried to flee across the neighbor’s backyard. Bubba made it about 150 yards before he was shot execution style and died near the neighbor’s back door. Pratt then broke into Jessica’s apartment and shot her as she lay in bed. The Pratts had been separated six months and their divorce was pending at the time of her murder. Before leaving the scene, Pratt retrieved his then-22-month-old son from the apartment and took him to his own parents home. The son is now about 20.

In the weeks before today’s hearing, Sarah Perry Hilliard, Bubba’s mother, who lives in the Clements community, circulated a petition opposing Pratt’s release that was eventually signed by 437 people.

Pratt’s next parole hearing will be in five years, Hilliard has said.