CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Roy Pittman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the May 2013 shooting death of his 15-year-old daughter and attempted second-degree murder for wounding his 18-year-old son.
Prosecutors claim Roy Pittman, 70, used a shotgun to kill Brittany “Britt” Pittman and wound Matthew Pittman. The victims were two of the six children Roy Pittman and his wife, Wanda, had adopted.
Roy Pittman later shot himself in the face in a failed suicide attempt.
As part of Pittman’s plea deal, a charge of malicious wounding was dropped Thursday.
Defense attorney Ronni Sheets, of the Kanawha County Public Defender Office, failed to receive a continuance for Thursday’s plea hearing. Sheets told Kanawha County Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit that the Yeager Airport landslide had destroyed the Charleston home of Pittman, his wife and their four other children.
“The flooding flooded his house, has destroyed his home,” Sheets said. “His wife and three small children have been displaced since March. Obviously, that’s very stressful for him. There’s negotiations regarding what will happen with the home, where the family will live, and all of this, obviously, impacts him.”
Family members are expected to offer statements during a sentencing hearing for Roy Pittman on June 8.
According to Don Morris, assistant Kanawha County prosecuting attorney, Pittman shot Brittany with a 20-gauge shotgun inside the family’s Keystone Drive home, reloaded the shotgun and then went to a nearby home to shoot Matthew, who survived a leg wound.