McKeesport man gets 20 to 40 years in connection with 2020 shooting

A McKeesport man was sentenced Tuesday to 20 to 40 years in prison in connection with a March 2020 shooting that left a person paralyzed from the waist down, but his attorney said he likely will appeal the case to Superior Court.

A jury in February found Jamont Neal, 32, guilty of attempted homicide and aggravated assault. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Elliot Howsie handed down the sentence this week. Neal also faces a concurrent sentence of eight to 16 years for the assault charge, the court docket shows.

“My client has adamantly maintained his innocence from Day One,” said attorney Corey Day, who represented Neal.

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said Neal fired six shots during the dispute, with four shots hitting the victim. The victim, who was sitting in a car at the time of the shooting, survived but was paralyzed from the waist down, Day said.

Day said Neal disputed claims that he and the victim were romantically involved.

The District Attorney’s Office did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment.

The shooting was not Neal’s first encounter with law enforcement.

On Jan. 14, 2015, Neal pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute heroin and was sentenced to five years in prison, court records show.

In 2014, the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrapped up an investigation into drug trafficking in Wilkinsburg, in which 44 people — 43 of them Pennsylvania residents — were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of violating narcotics and firearms laws. Neal, then 23, was one of those indicted.

The grand jury said dealers, using the tag “Bricks R Us,” sometimes used junior high school students to hawk the drug in communities across four Western Pennsylvania counties. A brick is 50 stamp bags of heroin, each bag worth about $10.

Neal has been at Allegheny County Jail since April 2020 in connection with the shooting, the court docket shows.