Prosecutor seeks death penalty for Pruitt

Prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for Tommy Pruitt, the 39-year-old Martinsville man who's been charged with the murder of a Morgan County Sheriff's Deputy.\nMorgan County Prosecutor Steven Sonnega filed the sentencing request Monday with Dearborn County Circuit Court Judge James Humphreys. Because of the intensive local media coverage, the trial has been moved to Lawrenceburg, Ind. \nPruitt is charged in the mid-June shooting of Sgt. Daniel Starnes during a close-range gun battle after a routine traffic stop. Starnes took five bullets in the exchange and died from medical complications July 10 at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.\n"I'm glad," said David Rogers, a Morgan County jail officer who used to work with Starnes. "I think he's realized that he's done wrong, but he's only got one person to answer to now ... God."\nPruitt also faces a class A felony count of attempted murder, three counts of receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and possession of a handgun without a license.\nAfter he was shot, Starnes was rushed by helicopter to the intensive care center at Indianapolis's Methodist Hospital. Doctors initially thought Starnes would recover after several feet of his intestines were removed during surgery.\nBut after a 17-day struggle, Starnes succumbed to a bacterial infection.\n"We know what happened and who did what to whom," said Morgan County Deputy Prosecutor Terry Iacoli. "So I'd say we have a pretty good chance of getting a successful conviction."\nDuring Pruitt's initial court hearing in early August, Morgan County Superior Court Judge Jane Craney granted him a change of venue. She said she could not be impartial in handling such a case. \nIacoli said the prosecutor's office only sought capital punishment after talking extensively with the family and Starnes' doctors. The death penalty request comes as no surprise to Pruitt's defense attorney, public defender William Van Der Pol Jr. \n"We were told about it about a week in advance," he said, declining to comment further. "It doesn't get any more stressful than when your client's life is on the line, but we won't be working out a strategy until it goes to trial."\nVan Der Pol, who practices in Martinsville, said he doesn't think the case will go to trial until 2003. The sentencing request requires additional hearing and the appointment of another defense attorney.