WHEELING — Niyajah Hales was found guilty of second-degree murder for the 2021 shooting of Michael J. Jackson following a two-and-a-half-hour deliberation by jurors Friday.

Hales of Brooklyn, New York, was initially charged with first-degree murder for shooting Jackson outside of the VooDoo Lounge on Wheeling Island in the early morning of Jan. 28, 2021. Ohio County Prosecutor Shawn Turak said what distinguished the charge of second-degree murder from first-degree murder is that jurors would have to find Hales’ shooting of Jackson a “premeditated, deliberate killing” for the first-degree charge.

“The difference between first-degree murder and second-degree murder as the jury by its verdict found the killing of Michael Jackson by Niyajah Hales was intentional, willful, unlawful and malicious,” Turak said. “They did not find that there was a premeditated, deliberate killing.”

Turak said the charge carries a sentence of “between a minimum of 10 to up to 40 years.” Hales will not be eligible for parole for a minimum of 10 years.

Turak predicted a sentence would be delivered by Ohio County Circuit Judge Michael Olejasz in “between three to six weeks.”

Hales remained expressionless as the verdict was read. Defense attorneys Kevin Neiswonger and Braden Noon declined to comment on the verdict.

During the three-day trial, jurors were shown surveillance footage from inside and outside the bar on Jan. 28, 2021. Footage from the laundromat across the street from the bar was also shown.

Surveillance footage inside the bar depicted the altercation between Hales and Jackson’s friend, Clint Lekanudos.

The fight at the bar culminated in Jackson throwing a bottle at Hales and his friend Brian Steele, who was also involved in the altercation.

Footage from Spunky’s Laundromat across the street and surveillance footage outside the bar revealed the fight between Hales’ friend Brian Steele and Jackson that led to Hales shooting Jackson.

The prosecution argued that the shooting was premeditated and an act of malice, while the defense argued that the shooting was an act of self-defense.

Parties involved in the altercation at the bar, including Hales and Lekanudos, were called to the stand during the trial. The owner of the VooDoo Lounge, Erick Brothers, who was struck in the head by the bottle Jackson threw, also testified.

In addition to testimony from parties involved in the altercation, witnesses to the altercation inside the bar between Hales, Steele and Lekanudos testified. Will “Willie” Nelson, who witnessed Hales shoot Jackson outside the bar, was also brought to the stand.

“The jury did a good job,” Turak said. “They listened, and they paid attention — hard — all week long. That verdict is a correct and just verdict.”

Before the prosecution and defense gave their closing statements on Friday, a juror in the trial was dismissed and replaced by an alternate after she reported being followed from the Ohio County Courthouse by an individual during a lunch break.

Four other jurors reported being followed by the same individual during the lunch break in the trial.

Olejasz first reported the harassment before jurors entered the room after a lunch break. He said that “inappropriate contact” had been made with jurors and that “harassment needs to be looked into.”

After the jurors who reported the harassment met privately with Olejasz, the defense and the prosecution, the female juror who reported the harassment was dismissed.

Hales was the defense’s last witness called to the stand during the final day of the trial. Hales confirmed when questioned by Noon that he had a gun in his pocket at the VooDoo Lounge on the night of Jan. 28.

Hales also responded to Noon that he “never pointed the gun or put his finger on the trigger.”

When Lekanudos first entered the bar’s poker room, Hales said he believed he was attempting to talk to him while Lekanudos spoke to a woman in the room. When Hales asked the pair if they were “talking about” him, he said they told him “no” and were “very aggressive.” Hales recalled “feeling threatened” and getting up out of his seat.

Hales said another male entered the poker room. He later learned that the man was Jackson.

Hales then confirmed for Noon that he did not know Jackson before Jan. 28.

When Noon asked Hales if he believed anyone had ever tried to engage in “more than words” during the poker room altercation, Hales responded he “believed so.”

Hales said he left the bar with Steele following the altercation “without incident.” After being escorted out of the VooDoo Lounge by Brothers, Hales recalled checking his pocket and realizing he had left his phone there. When Hales returned to the bar to collect his phone, he said he felt “intimidated” by the bar patrons, who he thought did not believe Hales was returning to the VooDoo Lounge to get his phone.

Hales recalled a female patron handing him a phone that was not his. While other patrons attempted to return his phone, Hales said the argument between him, Steele and Lekanudos “was still ongoing.”

When asked by Noon to identify “any point” in the argument that the argument became more than verbal, Hales pointed out when Jackson “threw a beer bottle at the door and ran through the door and attacked Steele.”

After the bottle was thrown, Hales recounted running out of the bar, with Steele and Jackson following him while fighting each other.

After the three entered the street outside of the bar, Hales said Steele “tried to grab his firearm to protect himself.” He said Jackson then “went for the firearm,” which began the “tussle” over the gun.

Hales confirmed for Noon that Steele “lost control of his gun during the disagreement.”

From his vantage point, Hales said he “believed” he heard a shot go off, which made him “panicked and scared.”

“I was terrified,” Hales said. “I don’t know honestly (that a shot was fired), but that’s what I thought I heard. It all happened very fast.”

Hales said he then “ran” and “fired the shot.”

After that, Hales said Steele and Jackson “fell to the ground.” Hales recalled Jackson stood up, but Steele did not. Hales said this compelled him to fire another shot as he thought Jackson would shoot Steele.

When questioned by Noon about how he felt after the altercation unfolded, Hales responded, “I was shocked, I was feeling terrible and I was terrified.”

During her cross-examination of Hales, Ohio County Prosecutor Shawn Turak confirmed that Hales lied to WPD officers when he was initially brought in for questioning.

“‘I didn’t shoot nobody, but whatever,'” Is that not what you said?” Turak asked Hales, who responded he “probably” said that.

Hales then denied Turak’s question of whether “everything” Hales said during Noon’s questioning was not accurate to the surveillance footage shown.

When Turak asked Hales if Steele and Jackson were “nowhere near that gun” while they fought on the street outside of the bar, Hales said he “can’t say for sure.”

“You didn’t know, did you?” Turak further questioned, to which Hales responded, “No, but I heard a shot go off, and it put me in a panic.” Turak then clarified that Hales “thought” he heard a shot go off, which Hales confirmed.

Turak questioned if Steele “never asked for his help” during Steele and Jackson’s fight outside the bar.

“He was screaming, ma’am, what was I supposed to do?” Hales responded. “My friend is screaming. I’m not supposed to be scared and panicked? I’m not understanding what you’re asking me, ma’am.”

Turak then asked Hales if he “never saw Jackson with a gun in his hand,” which Hales confirmed.

Turak then asked, “Yet you shot him?”

Hales responded that he shot Jackson “because they were tussling over a gun.”

“I never actually saw him take full control over the gun, but I heard a gunshot go off, and they were tussling over a gun, so I assumed that he took it, but I never actually saw him with a gun,” Hales said. “It happened fast, ma’am.”

Turak then questioned why Hales did not call 911 for help after the shooting instead of fleeing the scene if Hales shooting Jackson was an act of “self-defense.”

“I’m a 19-year-old kid, ma’am, and my city has a lot of corrupt officers,” Hales said. “I don’t know what to think about out here or nothing, ma’am, honestly.”

“You’re in Wheeling, West Virginia, sir,” Turak responded, to which Hales replied, “I don’t know nothing about it.”

During her closing statements, Turak stressed that Hales’ actions the night of Jan. 28 were an “intentional, willful killing.”

“I would suggest to you that Wheeling, West Virginia, is not the Bronx,” Turak said to jurors. “He (Hales) inserted himself again by coming back (to the bar) after he got tossed out. That’s ridiculous.

“He said he was ‘so scared’ and felt ‘so intimated,'” Turak continued. “That’s ridiculous.”

In the defense’s closing argument, Neiswonger argued that Hales committed voluntary manslaughter as there was no premeditation or malice to his action.

Neiswonger noted that Jackson “inserted himself into the situation” at the bar, meaning Hales’ actions that night were not premeditated. He reminded jurors that the fighting was “only verbal” until Jackson threw the bottle.

Turak said the second-degree charge decided by jurors “represents justice.”

“We are very grateful to this jury,” Turak said. “This was a senseless, horrific killing that never needed to happen.”

Turak added that the verdict also gave Jackson’s family “closure.”

“What I’ve learned in doing homicide cases now for over a decade is that families typically can’t even begin to grieve and mourn in a natural way until the legal process is behind them,” Turak said. “Now they have to get on to the very real and painful process of grieving, and I wish them all of the love in the world as they go through that part.”