The escaped teen murder suspect, Shane Pryor, was in prison in connection to a 2020 murder. NBC10’s investigative reporter Claudia Vargas has more on why Pryor was awaiting trial for so many years.
UPDATE: Shane Pryor was captured on Sunday, officials said. Latest details here.
The escaped teen murder suspect, Shane Pryor, is charged as an adult in a 2020 homicide, officials say.
Pryor has spent the last three and a half years in custody waiting for a trial.
When Pryor escaped from prison staff at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on Wednesday, the NBC10 Investigators looked into his open murder case and why it has taken so long to go to trial.
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Since his arrest happened at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he has faced some initial court delays.
But, since then his case has had a number of setbacks including several defense attornies.
Before Shane Pryor was known as the latest Philadelphia prisoner escapee, he was another docket number in a lengthy court calendar.
In 2020, the then-14-year-old was charged with murdering Tanya Harris.
His case is one of nearly 37,000 open criminal cases awaiting trial.
Pryor had his preliminary arraignment on Oct. 26, 2020, and since then he's had five different lawyers representing him.
Each new attorney led to further delays in the case.
Earl Raynor Jr. was appointed by the court to defend Pryor in 2022. He was Pryor's fourth attorney.
"He had his preliminary hearing and then the case didn't go anywhere for 21 months, then I was appointed," he told NBC10.
Raynor then requested the court pay for psychological evaluation for Pryor to help in the argument to try him as a juvenile.
"I immediately filed a petition to decertify him. I was surprised that hadn't been done," Raynor explained. "I really thought that a psychiatrist could have established that at his age, he did not have the emotional or psychological maturity to fully appreciate the nature of his acts, and therefore should not have been tried as an adult."
But, Raynor says it took a while to schedule the psychiatrist and get the report to the judge.
Then, the judge overseeing Pryor's case had replaced Raynor in January of last year and a fifth attorney was appointed.
The judge denied the motion to move the case to juvenile court in December of 2023.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner says his office agreed with keeping the case in adult court.
"We believe that he is criminally responsible for a homicide. We believe that he should be held accountable for that," Krasner said.
As for the delay in Pryor's case, Krasner says it is normal to take that long given the pandemic delays and how long it takes for homicide cases to make their way to trial.
According to the 2023 statistics from the District Attorney's Office, homicide cases were normally resolved in just over two years.
Pre-pandemic, cases were taking just under two years.
For a little more context, ten years ago, homicide cases were also taking more than two years to resolve.
Pryor's current lawyer, Paul DiMaio told NBC10 that Shane Pryor's next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 15.
The attorney says the hearing can go on whether Pryor is there or not.
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