Dec. 19—SUNBURY — A Wilkes-Barre man originally charged with homicide pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges Thursday and was released from jail.
Carnel Shelborne had been charged with homicide after he and Naseir Robinson, of Sunbury, were linked by Sunbury police to a fatal shooting in August outside the courthouse on Market Street, in Sunbury.
Shelborne and his attorney, Theron Solomon, of Wilkes-Barre, appeared before Judge Hugh Jones Thursday after Solomon informed the court that a plea agreement had been reached with the Northumberland County District Attorney’s Office.
Solomon said he was ready to go to trial on the homicide charges and that his client was not cooperating with police, nor giving any information to authorities.
“I believe my client was overcharged and I give credit to District Attorney (Michael) O’Donnell for stepping back and looking at the facts of this case,” Solomon said after the hearing Thursday.
Shelborne was accused of homicide for what police say was his role in the Aug. 15 fatal shooting of Dayveon Creel, of Sunbury, outside the Northumberland County Courthouse. The shooting occurred during a lunch break of an attempted homicide trial for Anthony Moultrie and Francky Riche and led to a mistrial.
Both Moultrie and Riche were acquitted by a jury of the attempted homicide charges in their second trial that ended Nov. 21.
Sunbury Police alleged Shelborne and Robinson left the courthouse and used their vehicle to block Creel from leaving a parking lot on Market Street, before a third man, Denarii Springs, of Northumberland, shot and killed Creel.
Springs, who is charged with homicide, fled the scene and has yet to be located, police said.
Solomon said Shelborne was arrested the night of the shooting and has been in jail ever since.
The plea agreement called for Shelborne to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats and a count of false statements to authorities.
District Attorney Michael O’Donnell had no comment on the case Thursday morning.
Jones asked Shelborne if he wanted to plead to the two charges against him and not go to trial.
“Yes,” Shelborne, who was surrounded by family at the hearing, said.
Solomon asked Jones to modify Shelborne’s bail from having no bail to unsecured while waiting for sentencing, which Solomon said was a deal of time served.
Jones agreed and set the bail at $10,000 unsecured.
“He (Shelborne) now gets to go home for Christmas,” Solomon said. “I am happy for him and his family and with the deal in place for time served, he could put this behind him and move on.”
Robinson is being represented by Sunbury attorney Jim Best.