As jury deliberates, New Kensington teen pleads guilty to Vandergrift park shooting

A New Kensington teenager pleaded guilty Friday to charges he shot a marijuana dealer in a Vandergrift park more than two years ago.

The plea deal came as a Westmoreland County jury deliberated in the case against Ryleik Arbuckle, 17. Prosecutors contend that Arbuckle pistol-whipped a man who came to sell him $40 of marijuana and then shot him in the buttocks as he fled.

The jury had deliberated for more than three hours when it sent a note that it appeared to be deadlocked and was unlikely to reach a unanimous verdict.

“If it was a hung jury, it would have been worse for the defendant,” said defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky. “Our defense was revealed, and the commonwealth would have been able to fill in the blanks in another trial.”

Jurors, because of concerns about the coronavirus, were deliberating in the courtroom. Arbuckle’s guilty plea was entered with lawyers and the judge in a side room and not in a public setting.

Arbuckle pleaded guilty to single counts of aggravated assault and attempted robbery. Additional charges of aggravated assault, robbery, simple assault and reckless endangerment were dismissed.

Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli referred all questions about the case to District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli. Ziccarelli declined to comment and said she will withhold any statements until after a sentencing hearing is conducted.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio said she will sentence Arbuckle in about three months.

Arbuckle, who was 15 at the time of the shooting but was prosecuted as an adult, could receive up to 20 years in prison. Gorzelsky said he will ask that Arbuckle receive a sentence in line with a plea deal he rejected prior to trial that called for him to receive three to six years in prison.

He will remain in the juvenile unit at the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh until he turns 18 in March. After that, he could be transferred to the Westmoreland County jail. He will remain in custody until he is sentenced.

During the two-day trial, prosecutors said Arbuckle went to Franklin Park in Vandergrift on Nov. 5, 2019, with a teenage girl to buy marijuana.

Dale McNutt, 20, testified that he told the pair he needed to be paid for the pot before he went off to retrieve the marijuana for them. McNutt said a man he did not know pulled a gun from his waistband, hit McNutt over the head with it and then fired two shots as he attempted to run away.

One shot struck McNutt’s cellphone in his rear pocket, traveled through his buttocks and exited his right thigh, prosecutors said.

McNutt testified he did not know the shooter’s name. But in court this week, he described his attacker’s facial features. He pointed to Arbuckle and identified him as the man who beat and shot him.

“Dale McNutt identified him, and he told you why,” Iannamorelli told jurors.

The now 18-year-old Vandergrift woman who arranged for the drug deal testified she met Arbuckle in the park and watched as he hit McNutt with the gun. She testified she did not see the shooting.

In his closing argument to the jurors, Gorzelsky contended McNutt was mistaken about the shooter’s identity and accused other witnesses of lying to conceal the identity of the man who fired the gun.

“It wasn’t my client. (The teenage girl) is a liar who was looking to protect herself and whatever friend she was with,” Gorzelsky argued to the jury.