
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.
Since covering his first trial for the Brandon Sun in 1999, Pritchard has logged more time in a courtroom than many of the veteran lawyers whose cases he has followed.
After leaving Brandon, Pritchard spent 12 years on the court beat for the Winnipeg Sun, returning to the beat in 2019 after a brief stint as a Free Press copy editor.
In covering cases that often capture people at their lowest, Pritchard strives for fairness and accuracy, without sacrificing the humanity at the core of the stories. In the words of one of his favourite literary gumshoes, Harry Bosch, “Everybody counts or nobody counts.”
When not running from one courtroom to another, Pritchard has been pepper-sprayed by police, spent an afternoon as a shopping mall Santa, jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and chugged a six-pack before noon to help Mounties test their new roadside screening device — all in the service of (he hopes) a good story. It’s a living.
In his off hours, Pritchard enjoys plucking away at his six string while trying to memorize all 14 verses of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Pritchard believes a great hat always beats a great haircut and that writing about oneself in the third person is a bit… weird.
Editors told Pritchard his bio should be at least 250 words, but as readers may have noticed, he’s not one to run off at the mouth.
Recent articles of Dean Pritchard
New trial ordered in West Broadway slaying in 2019
4 minute read Preview Yesterday at 4:52 PM CSTAbusive father, husband gets break on sentence
4 minute read Preview Yesterday at 6:00 AM CSTWoman seeks to withdraw guilty plea in death of toddler
4 minute read Preview Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023Couple charged with handing out cannabis candy insist they meant no harm
4 minute read Preview Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023Couple accused of distributing cannabis had run out of Halloween candy: search warrants
4 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023Accused killer to be assessed by psychiatrist
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023Man pleads guilty in near-fatal 2021 knife attack aboard city bus
4 minute read Preview Monday, Jan. 30, 2023Five years for 2020 one-punch death
3 minute read Preview Friday, Jan. 27, 2023A fatal attack on a 41-year-old Winnipeg man was met with “shocking” indifference by passersby, even after his body was dragged on to a busy Main Street roadway, a court has heard.
Judge acquits man of inflicting injuries on his toddler
4 minute read Preview Friday, Jan. 27, 2023A judge acquitted a Winnipeg man Thursday of inflicting injuries on his toddler that left the girl blind and unable to speak — but made clear the ruling did not mean he thought the man was innocent.