Demaree Ritchie testified on Friday that he was at a friend’s house on Sept. 9, hanging out and drinking beer, when he went to investigate a noise he heard and encountered the grandfather of his children.
He said the grandfather, Alvin L. Leggett, said, “I finally caught you,” before pulling out a gun and shooting him in both legs. As he and Leggett then fought over the gun, Ritchie said another man who was with Leggett, Kevin P. Person, grabbed a shovel and started beating him with it.
Prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of Ritchie, 32, Friday morning during the preliminary hearings for Leggett, 54, and Person, 52, who Erie police charged with attempted homicide and other offenses in the attack. Erie 2nd Ward District Judge Ed Wilson held the pair for court on all charges following the hearing.
Leggett and Person were initially charged in the crime shortly after the incident, which happened in the 600 block of East 13th Street, but prosecutors withdrew the charges when Ritchie failed to appear in court for their scheduled preliminary hearings in October and December. Police refiled the charges against the pair in January.