Second man convicted of kidnapping 7-year-old girl

PHILADELPHIA -- A second man was convicted Friday in the kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl who chewed through duct tape to escape a squalid basement last summer.

The jury, which deliberated for four hours over two days, found James Burns, 30, guilty of Erica Pratt's abduction.

Burns was at the wheel of a getaway car when Edward Johnson, 24, snatched Erica from the sidewalk outside her grandmother's Southwest Philadelphia home, prosecutors said.

Burns faces 35 to 71 years in prison. Johnson, who pleaded guilty days before the trial but did not testify against Burns, faces 32 to 64 years in prison. Both men will remain in custody until their July 29 sentencing hearings.

Erica, now 8, has been celebrated for her daring escape from the empty house, where she spent nearly 24 hours bound and blindfolded.

During the trial, though, her courage waned, and she testified that she did not recognize Burns -- whom she had previously picked out of a lineup and identified in open court.

"It was very clear that she knew exactly who he was and that she recognized him, based on her demeanor and her turning away from him in court," Assistant District Attorney Leslie Gomez said Friday.

"You can't put that weight on a 7-year-old, to point a finger and say, 'You did this to me.' That was my job," Gomez said.

Prosecutors relied on other evidence to make their case. In Burns' pocket, investigators found the key to the house where Pratt was held. They also tied his girlfriend's cell phone records to ransom calls that were made.

The kidnappers called Pratt's grandmother several times, demanding $150,000. They mistakenly thought the family had received a large insurance check after Pratt's uncle was shot to death a month earlier, police believe.

Defense lawyer Nino Tinari had argued that Johnson acted alone, and that public pressure to make an arrest led police to a "rush to judgment."

Burns was convicted of kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, attempted theft by extortion and other charges.