Conviction in Avalon racial assault case

&emsp;&emsp;One of six people arrested on July 7, 2018 for the racially motivated assault of a Brighton Heights man in an Avalon bar is probably wishing about now that he had taken the plea deal offered to his co-defendants.&emsp;&emsp;Instead, James Kryl insisted on a jury trial in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Beth Lazzara's courtroom, only to have the jury return a guilty verdict Thursday on all counts of the criminal complaint.&emsp;&emsp;Charges of simple assault and ethnic intimidation, along with the related conspiracy charges, were filed against six people after police were called to the Jackman Inn last July. They were charged with assaulting Brighton Heights resident Paul Morris, who is black, along with an employee of the local bar. Testimony at a preliminary hearing held before Magisterial District Judge Tara Smith a year ago indicated that the group of four men and two women used racial slurs, and some displayed the insignia of the Keystone State Skinheads, designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.&emsp;&emsp;One of the defendants, Travis Lee Cornell, died prior to the preliminary hearing.&emsp;&emsp;Three others -- Natasha Dawn Bowers, Terrence Raymond Stockey and Jeremy Ingram -- accepted the terms of a negotiated plea deal that had them pleading guilty to the simple assault charges, while the Commonwealth withdrew the charges of ethnic intimidation, which is Pennsylvania's hate crimes statute. All three were sentenced to two years of probation. Ingram currently is incarcerated in a state prison, and his probabtion will not begin until he is released.&emsp;&emsp;Crystal Lynn Shields was expected to take the plea deal as well, but at the last minute opted to go with a jury trial. That trial has been scheduled for Feb. 10, 2020.&emsp;&emsp;While court records indicate that Ingram pled guilty in March, the others entered their pleas on Monday.&emsp;&emsp;Kryl was found guilty of four counts: simple assault, conspiracy to commit simple assault, ethnic intimidation and conspiracy to commit ethnic intimidation. His case was separated from the others after the defense attorney for one of the other defendants presented the court with a motion for severance earlier this month.&emsp;&emsp;Kryl is scheduled to appear before Judge Lazzara for sentencing on Jan. 9, 2020.