Family of murdered Michigan teen worry convicted killer will be set free 36 years later
The family of Steven Abbey said they are terrified about the possibility that his killer, Richard Pruett, could be released from prison.
Pruett was convicted and sentenced in April 1989 for Abbey's murder at the Tireman shop on Groesbeck and 13 Mile Road in Fraser, Michigan.
"It's very hard, I live with it every day, and no one should have to go through this," said Mark Abbey
Mark Abbey said he remembers the day his brother was murdered like it was yesterday. He said he answered the door when police came to notify the family.
"Three detectives had shown up to the home. I had answered the door. I am the unlucky one who did, and they had asked if my parents were home, so I said, 'Yes, let me get them.' The police said they were terribly sorry, and we knew what that meant," Mark Abbey said.
Mark Abbey said he remembered his mother being hysterical after learning that Steven had been killed.
"My mother didn't understand and was just in a rage. She attacked the police officer. Not to beat him up, but it was just the rage she was in; she didn't understand what was happening," he said.
At the time, Mark Abbey said Fraser police told the family that Steven recognized Pruett robbing the Tireman shop. Pruett once worked at the tire shop, and Steven was a cashier. Pruett also had prior criminal offenses that included breaking into a home in Cadillac.
After a week-long murder trial, Pruett was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His conviction and sentencing had provided Mark and his family with some sense of closure until recently.
"So we felt the closure was that he was in prison, he is going to serve his time for taking someone who is in a grave and who can never come out of a grave, we all felt that if my brother can come out of a grave then we can release him but there is no chance of that ever happening," Mark Abbey said.
However, there is a chance that Pruett could be released on Wednesday. He has a re-sentencing hearing in front of Macomb County Judge Richard L. Caretti.
The family has been notified that it is due to the Miller hearing, which allows minors who were sentenced to have a special hearing to determine if they can be sentenced to life without parole.
This Miller hearing was widely publicized during the Oxford High School shooting case. Because the shooter was only 15 years old at the time he shot and killed four people and injured seven others, a special hearing was held to determine if he was competent and able to be sentenced to life without parole. A judge ultimately decided he could, and the shooter was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
On Wednesday, Pruett will have a special hearing and a chance to be resentenced more than 30 years after his initial conviction. Mark Abbey hopes he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
"We are just hoping that we go there tomorrow and the system holds us to where it was, a conviction from his own peers, and it stands, and we hope Judge Caretti does the right thing, and this is over. A chapter we don't have to relive again," he said.
