Columbus woman sentenced for shooting boyfriend to death, calling 911 the next day
A guilty plea Monday ended the odd case of a Columbus woman’s fatally shooting her boyfriend before checking herself into a mental health facility and the next day calling 911 to report his death.
Yashicer Alexandra Pritchett, also known as Yashicer Kemp, pleaded guilty to felony murder in the death of March 21, 2018, of 51-year-old Tommy Ellis Marshall Jr., found shot from behind in his 214 Melvin Ave. home.
Felony murder means Pritchett killed Marshall while committing the felony of aggravated assault. She also had faced charges of aggravated assault and using a gun to commit a crime, but those were dismissed during her plea negotiated by prosecutor Mark Anthony and defense attorney Stacey Jackson.
Judge William Rumer sentenced Pritchett to life in prison with possible parole. Typically that means the convict must serve 30 years before being eligible for release.
Pritchett today is 45 years old.
Anthony told the court Monday that she had been dating Marshall for months, and moved in with him before they had a dispute over his communicating with another woman.
Evidence at the crime scene showed Marshall had bent over to work on a TV when Pritchett came up behind him and shot him in the neck with a 9-millimeter handgun, the prosecutor said. Police said Marshall had a screwdriver in his hand.
Pritchett afterward checked herself into The Bradley Center at 2000 16th Ave., then called 911 the next day, telling dispatchers Marshall was hurt and someone should check on him.
According to Anthony, a dispatcher asked Pritchett what happened to Marshall, and she said he’d been shot, and then admitted she had been there at the time. Asked whether she shot Marshall, she replied, “Yes,” Anthony said.
Still his body went undiscovered that day, because patrol officers who went to his Melvin Avenue home noticed nothing amiss. Relatives found him the next day, after they called 911 to request officers check the residence again.
He finally was pronounced dead at 4:59 p.m. March 23, 2018. Pritchett was charged with murder when she was released from The Bradley Center the following April 11.
Marshall’s family did not testify during Pritchett’s sentencing hearing.
Also known by the nickname “Lil Tommy,” Marshall was a Columbus native, the son of Lucille “Lula” Berry Archie and Tommy E. Marshall Sr., and worked more than 26 years for the Coca Cola Company, according to his obituary.