Appeal denied for Preston County murderer

KINGWOOD, W.Va. (WBOY) — An appeal for a man convicted of shooting and killing a victim in 2020 has been denied.

In May 2022, Andrew Prudnick was convicted of murdering Ryan Sines in November 2020 after shooting him multiple times in the neck, chest and groin. Prudnick’s sentencing in September 2022 came with life in prison with mercy, making him eligible for parole after 15 years of time served.

An appeal for Prudnick was filed on Sept. 24, 2024, claiming that there were several errors by the Preston County Circuit Court during his trial, including not explaining the castle doctrine, or lack of duty to retreat when defending yourself, to the jury. The court found that an explanation of this doctrine was not necessary as it required the alleged assailant—Sines—to be an intruder in Prudnick’s home. Evidence and witness testimony showed that he was not.

Prudnick also claimed that the court erred by allowing the use of a recording of a phone call he made during his pretrial detention during the trial. He claimed that the use of this phone call as evidence drew attention away from the charge of first-degree murder and instead to Prudnick’s pretrial detention and Sines’ surviving family members.

The court rejected this claim of error citing the fact that a file containing a recording of the call was not able to be played by either Prudnick’s counsel or any member of the court. Therefore, there’s no way the court can properly analyze it. A summary of the call made by the State during its closing statement of the trial was also deemed inadequate for analysis. The court also said that even if the call was prejudiced against Prudnick, the court doesn’t see it as more than a “harmless error.”

In his appeal, Prudnick also claimed that the state failed to provide sufficient evidence of his guilt and was wrong for denying his motion of acquittal. The court claimed otherwise as under Prucknick’s testimony, Sines was a “masked, knife-wielding, drug-using burglar who approached the petitioner on the curtilage of his home in an irrational and erratic manner.”

Meanwhile, testimony from witnesses said that Prudnick had “threatened to scatter Mr. Sines’ brains over the yard” and that a man who fit Prudnick’s description was the aggressor in this situation. These testimonies, as well as other evidence presented by the State, were found to be enough to sustain Prudnick’s conviction.

Prudnick also claimed that the court failed to present evidence that could have potentially shifted the result of the trial in his favor, as required by Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83. In the appeal, Prudnick said that a baggie fell out of Sines’ pants “likely contained drugs” and that this baggie should have been presented to the court. He claims this error warrants a new trial and asked the court to review it under “plain error.”

The court responded by saying that plain error can only be satisfied if it’s found to be “favorable to the defendant,” “suppressed by the state” and “material.” The court did not find the bag to be material as it didn’t believe that presenting it to the jury would have affected the trial.

Under all of these claims of error lies a final claim from Prudnick of cumulative error. However, the court argued this claim was invalid as Prudnick “failed to establish any error,” therefore, he could not claim cumulative error.

With this denial, the court affirmed Prudnick’s 2022 sentence of life years in prison with mercy for the murder of Ryan Sines.

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