Condemned Dahlonega murderer dies

12-8-2009 Georgia:

Pruitt died after hanging himself weeks ago

A man awaiting execution for the 1992 rape and murder of a 10-year-old Lumpkin County girl has died after hanging himself.

Timothy Woodrow Pruitt, 43, died Sunday at a medical prison in Augusta, several weeks after he tried to hang himself with a bed sheet while on death row, Lumpkin County District Attorney Stan Gunter confirmed Tuesday.

Pruitt was sentenced to death by a Cherokee County jury in 1996 for the April 10, 1992, murder of Wendy Nicole Vincent. The trial was moved out of Lumpkin County due to pretrial publicity.

According to court records, Pruitt, whose ex-wife lived next door to the girl, snuck into Vincent’s trailer home late at night while her mother was away. He raped the girl, then stabbed her and cut her throat. DNA evidence at the scene connected Pruitt to the crime.

Pruitt had been at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification prison in Jackson – the home of the state’s death row – until he unsuccessfully tried to hang himself. He died from complications from the suicide attempt Sunday, Gunter said.

Pruitt was nearing the final stages of his federal appeals, said Russ Willard, a spokesman for the Georgia Attorney General’s office, which handles post-conviction appeals in death penalty cases.

Pruitt’s attorneys filed a federal habeus petition Nov. 23, Willard said. The petition would likely have gone to the U.S. District Court, then the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Following that, if Pruitt’s appeals were denied, an execution date would have been set.

Willard said the family of Pruitt’s victim was notified Monday of his death. ..Source.. by Stephen Gurr