Jury reaches split verdict in fatal McKeesport bar shooting
An Allegheny County jury on Wednesday found a McKeesport woman not guilty of homicide in the shooting death of another woman following a bar fight.
The jury deliberated about six hours before finding Gabrielle Parker, 38, not guilty of killing Ericka Stevens on June 18, 2020.
Parker was found guilty, however, of conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and on a firearms count.
She could face up to 40 years in prison on the former count.
She will be sentenced on Dec. 4.
“I’m very relieved,” said defense attorney Wendy Williams. “I think it was a compromise verdict by the jury who didn’t think she was fully without blame but didn’t think she pulled the trigger.”
Parker’s trial began last week before Common Pleas Judge Thomas E. Flaherty.
The prosecution said Parker and Stevens were involved in a fight inside the McKeesport Beer Barrel around 1:40 a.m. on the day of the homicide. Video from the bar showed Parker strike Stevens over the head with a three-quarters full bottle of Corona beer.
Video from outside then showed Parker getting into a Chevrolet Impala driven by Heaven Franklin-Pitts, who could be seen holding a gun as she stood outside of the car.
Assistant District Attorney Diana Page told the jury in her closing argument that video showed Franklin-Pitts get inside the car and pass the gun to Parker, who was the front-seat passenger.
Six seconds after that, the video showed the front passenger window go down, and six seconds after that, five shots were fired.
Stevens, who was sitting in another car, was killed.
Parker left Pittsburgh a few days later and went to Chicago, where she was arrested a month later by U.S. marshals.
Franklin-Pitts, 28, of Homestead reached a deal with the prosecution to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for her cooperation. At trial, she said Parker was the shooter.
But Williams, Parker’s attorney, told jurors they should not trust Franklin-Pitts.
Williams said her client did not fire the gun. Instead, she argued, the shots were fired by a man in the back seat of Franklin-Pitts’ car.
The man was identified but not charged in the case.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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