Wilkes-Barre man appeals murder conviction

A Wilkes-Barre man convicted by a Luzerne County jury in the 2017 fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man in Nanticoke has requested the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review his appeal.

Antoine William McNeal, 40, formerly of East Northampton Street, was sentenced by Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley to 31 years, 6 months to 63 years in state prison for killing Brandon Smith in the 100 block of West Church Street on Jan. 18, 2017.

A jury convicted McNeal on charges of third-degree murder, tampering with evidence, robbery and criminal use of communication facility following a trial before Polachek Gartley in January 2019.

Investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police at Wilkes-Barre in court records say McNeal met Smith to buy $500 worth of marijuana inside a van parked in front of Smith’s residence. After McNeal arrived, he shot Smith twice and stole a handful of Percocet pills Smith had in his possession.

McNeal fled the van leaving behind a Samsung Galaxy cellular phone that was seized by investigators.

In his appeal, McNeal alleges investigators unlawfully searched his Samsung cellular phone without a search warrant.

Court records say the phone number to the cellular phone was changed hours after Smith was fatally shot, which led investigators to McNeal.

McNeal was arrested when found hiding behind a door inside his the residence of Wakeelah Nimat Moore, 33, on East Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, on April 17, 2019.

Moore pled guilty to hindering apprehension and was sentenced to one year probation, court records say.

A three-member panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court - President Judge Emeritus Correale F. Stevens, Judge Judith F. Olson and Judge Deborah A. Kunselman - in an 18-page ruling issued July 22, 2024, upheld McNeal’s conviction.

The three Superior Court judges opined that the Samsung cellular phone was considered “abandoned” when found inside the van, which was the scene of a fatal shooting.

In the Superior Court’s opinion, they ruled Polachek Gartley correctly dismissed a motion to suppress the cellular phone during McNeal’s trial.

McNeal is requesting the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review his appeal.

Former assistant district attorneys William T. Finnegan Jr. and Thomas J. Hogans prosecuted.