Guilty verdict in city shooting trial

Sheron Jalen “Ryda” Purnell guilty of third-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of Kevin Paul Jalbert.

WEST CHESTER >> The man who authorities contended shot and killed an unarmed military veteran was found guilty Friday of murder after a racially charged dispute on a residential street in the middle of Coatesville while chidren and neighbors watched.

After a five-day long trial, the panel of seven women and five men returned their verdict after 3 1/2 hours of deliberations in Common Pleas Court, finding defendant Sheron Jalen “Ryda” Purnell guilty of third-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of Kevin Paul Jalbert, who confronted him after arguing with teenagers on a small city block.

Purnell, 24, was acquitted of the more serious charge of first-degree murder. He will be sentenced later by Judge David Bortner, who presided over the trial. Purnell was also found guilty of a firearmS offense. The verdict spares Purnell, a reputed member of a cit street gang known as The Belmont Boys, of a mandatory life sentence in state prison.

The murder took place about 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2016, on Belmont Street, just a block south of East Lincoln Highway in the cit’s best bus district. Upon arrival, police found Jalbert lying on the grass outside a home suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and back. Children were among those in the proximity of the shooting, authorities said at the time.

Jalbert, 36, of South Carolina, was pronounced dead later that night. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force who had been stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before his discharge, the victim was a native of Connecticut who been treated at the Coatesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Caln.

According the the trial testimony, Jalbert had been walking home near Sixth Avenue when he came into contact with a group of children who he reportedly yelled at. The children walked away, but Purnell, who lived nearby on Belmont, arrived and reportedly engaged in a verbal confrontation with Jalbert. They both walked up White Alley, where police said the confrontation reportedly became physical.

Purnell reportedly later pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and shot Jalbert several times, according to witnesses and police. Police said they recovered eight .25 caliber shell casings from the shooting and four eyewitnesses eventually identified Purnell as the alleged shooter.

The prosecution was led by Assistant District Attorneys Christopher Miller, Caitlin Rice, and Emily Provencher. Purnell was represented by Assistant Public Defender Stephen Delano.

Sheron Jalen “Ryda” Purnell