SJC upholds murder conviction of Ryan Welch in killing of Jessica Pripstein
Ryan D. Welch during his arraignment in 2012. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Published: 5/15/2021 9:13:59 AM
EASTHAMPTON — The state’s highest court has ruled to uphold the first-degree murder conviction of an Easthampton man who killed his girlfriend in 2012.
The Supreme Judicial Court, or SJC, on Friday denied the request of Ryan Welch — convicted in 2014 of the murder of Jessica Ann Pripstein in the couple’s Easthampton apartment — for a new trial. The court upheld several rulings by Hampshire Superior Court judges C. Jeffrey Kinder and Daniel Ford. Welch had been sentenced to life in prison without parole.