Shooter takes plea deal
A Pittsburgh man who shot a self-described drug addict during an alleged crack deal gone bad avoided a trial by brokering a plea arrangement to reduced charges Tuesday.
Without comment, 21-year-old Robert J. Prater pleaded no contest to reckless endangerment and terroristic threats, both misdemeanors.
Butler County Judge Timothy McCune immediately sentenced Prater to the terms of his plea arrangement: 1 to 2 years in the Butler County Prison, with immediate parole on credit for the year he already spent in jail awaiting resolution of this case; and 3 years of probation.
Prater originally was charged with attempted homicide, a first-degree felony. His plea and sentencing came after jurors already were selected to hear the evidence and witnesses were waiting in the courthouse to testify.
Assistant District Attorney B.T. Fullerton said the reasons prosecutors offered the deal to reduced charges were two fold: There were credibility concerns with the witnesses, and Prater will likely face further sanctions for violating his probation in Allegheny County.
According to court records, the prosecutions’ main witnesses have had previous criminal convictions, and some of the witnesses have been arrested again since the Feb. 23, 2012, shooting.
“These types of checkered pasts cause issues of credibility that are ripe for attack from defense,” Fullerton said.
According to court records, the victim in this case, James T. Matuke Jr. had gone to the 400 W. North St. apartment to buy crack cocaine. He’s allegedly purchased it there twice earlier in the day from 26-year-old Melissa Cammisa.
On this trip, Matuke was allegedly dissatisfied with rock of crack he was offered and entered Cammissa’s apartment.
Once inside, Prater allegedly fired four rounds from a .40-caliber pistol, hitting Matuke once.
The bullet went into and out of Matuke’s left arm, and into his lower stomach area, hitting the spleen and kidney.
Matuke was flown to Allegheny General Hospital where physicians removed his spleen and treated his kidney, police said.
Matuke, whose criminal record includes convictions of retail theft and possession of drug paraphernalia, has a pending case of theft filed last month by Butler Township police.
Cammisa’s criminal history includes convictions for possession of a controlled substance and driving under the impairment of a controlled substance. She currently has pending cases of possession of a controlled substance and retail theft.
Prater also has a criminal history. His includes convictions for fleeing from police and two previous weapons violations. The defendant is legally barred from possessing any firearm, officials have said, based on a 2009 juvenile court adjudication for robbery in Allegheny County.
Prater still faces the possibility of further incarceration for violating the terms of an open probation case in Allegheny County.
Prater’s defense attorney Sally Frick of Pittsburgh said her client is a young man who hopes to fulfill his sentence then return to his family and future which would include a plan for further education.
“He’s bright, he’s articulate and he has a supportive family,” Frick said.
More than a half-dozen friends and family attended Tuesday’s hearing in support of Prater. They all declined to comment.
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