The family of a murdered Thiel College graduate won their battle Thursday to keep one of Roger "Butch" Pratt's killers in prison.

In a closed hearing Thursday, the Ohio Parole Authority denied parole for Michael Swiger, who was convicted in 1990 of involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping for his role in the murder of Pratt. Michael Swiger has served 12 years and is currently locked up at the Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg.

Michael Pratt of Warren, Butch Pratt's brother, said he was feeling "very well" Friday evening and called the parole board's decision a "birthday gift."

"Obviously I'm glad that things worked out the way we hoped," he said. "Our goal from the beginning was to have it denied. It was right in time for my birthday, which is Monday. My brother's birthday is Oct. 8 and my sister's birthday was Thursday."

Pratt said he didn't find out about the board's decision until early Friday afternoon. His answering machine was overflowing with calls from family and friends who wanted to know what had happened.

"I found out it was true and have been calling people ever since," he said.

He said he wasn't sure whether his mother, Rose Pratt of Munhall, Pa., had heard the news, but he wanted to be the one to tell her.

"I have to call her next. If she does know she hasn't called to tell me and that's unlike her. I want to tell her so she can start telling other people," he said, adding he was going to visit her today.

Swiger was sentenced to 21 to 53 years in Ohio state prison for his role in the death of Butch Pratt, who was beaten to death in a field near Hudson, Ohio, and later buried in a shallow grave outside Jamestown.

Two others were convicted in Ohio for their roles in the killing: Swiger's older brother Edward -- who had been Butch Pratt's best friend and fraternity brother at Thiel -- is serving a life sentence for beating Pratt to death; and Linda Karlen, formerly of Hempfield Township and Sharon, who was sentenced to 7 to 15 years for helping lure Pratt to the Ohio field where he was murdered.

All three face prison time in Pennsylvania upon their release from prison in Ohio.

The Swiger brothers and Ms. Karlen feared Butch Pratt would implicate Edward in two burglaries of Thiel fraternities and both brothers in the 1988 arson of a Greenville furniture store. Both Swigers and Karlen were convicted in connection with that fire.

Michael Swiger requested clemency four years after his conviction, while Ms. Karlen has been denied parole twice, Michael Pratt said. Edward Swiger won't be eligible for parole in Ohio until 2033 at the earliest, he added.

The earliest Michael Swiger could be released from his Ohio sentence is Jan. 2, 2008, but Pratt said he was informed that he can petition the parole board to consider a longer time.

"And I have a lot of time for that ...," Pratt said.

The Pratt family has held several petition drives to keep everyone connected to the murder behind bars. Michael Pratt, along with other family, friends and local supporters began working in April and spent all summer long circulating a petition. They gathered more than 5,000 signatures.

"We worked very hard on this project," he said. "Now I can relax from all this for awhile and try to move on and do more of the other things in my life," he said.

Pratt said in August he and others met with members of the parole board in Columbus to present their petition and plead their case for a victim conference day.

Pratt, a member of both Trumbull County and Mercer County's Parents of Murdered Children Inc. joined in the group's national vigil Wednesday to remember victims of violence.