Zaaina Mahvish-Jammeh pleaded guilty in the ax killing of Brattleboro shelter coordinator Leah Rosin-Pritchard.

The plea is the new event, and the outlets do not describe the same count. WCAX and Magic 102 say it is second-degree murder. WPTZ says she admitted the killing at a Tuesday hearing and then states the first-degree penalty, 35 years to life, without naming the count she entered. Magic 102 says Judge Heather Gray said lawyers are discussing 20 years to life with 10 years to serve. That figure is a discussion in one station's account. WCAX says the sentence comes later.

Zaaina Mahvish-Jammeh pleaded guilty in the killing of Leah Rosin-Pritchard, the coordinator at the Morningside House homeless shelter in Brattleboro, WCAX and WPTZ reported. WCAX reported Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, that she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after originally facing a first-degree murder charge, and that second-degree murder carries 20 years to life. WPTZ reported she is 42 and that she admitted killing Rosin-Pritchard, in April 2023, at a change-of-plea hearing Tuesday morning. WPTZ reported she was arrested on a first-degree murder charge, accused of using an axe, and that she had been living at the shelter. WPTZ then reported that first-degree murder convictions carry 35 years to life in Vermont. It did not say the plea was to second-degree murder. WCAX reported she will be sentenced at a later date.

Magic 102 reported Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, that she entered the second-degree murder plea Tuesday morning in the Criminal Division of Windham Superior Court, and that Judge Heather Gray said lawyers are discussing a possible punishment of 20 years to life, with 10 years to serve and lifetime probation after release. The station reported a pre-sentence investigation was ordered and that a later hearing will set the sentence, with statements from victims expected then. WPTZ also reported the change-of-plea agreement requires a pre-sentence investigation. WCAX did not name the judge and did not report a 10-years-to-serve figure. A range one station says lawyers are discussing is not a term a judge has imposed.

Magic 102, citing the plea agreement, reported she had been living at Morningside House and arranged to speak with Rosin-Pritchard, 37, before attacking her with an ax that had been concealed beneath a sheet, and that the blows were across Rosin-Pritchard's face and body and caused injuries that threatened her life. VTDigger's April 4, 2023 account of the arraignment reported Rosin-Pritchard was 36 and was found dead on the kitchen floor from injuries to her face, neck and torso. Those two ages are not the same number. Magic 102 is describing what it says is in the plea agreement. The 2023 story is what VTDigger reported at the arraignment. WCAX and WPTZ did not give her age in their plea stories.

WCAX reported that shortly after the killing she was deemed not competent to stand trial because of what court paperwork called major mental illness. Magic 102 reported a judge previously found she was suffering from mania and psychosis, that she was ordered hospitalized in 2023 and ruled not fit for trial then, that she was later found competent in 2024, and that the case had been set for trial in January. Those are the stations' accounts of the competency history. Magic 102 also reported a civil case by Rosin-Pritchard's parents, Paula Rosin and David Pritchard, against Groundworks remains pending. That lawsuit is a separate case. The criminal plea is what she entered. The sentence is the hearing that has not been held. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.