A Luzerne County jury convicted Jary Fortuna of third-degree murder in the death of Scott Knox.

Throwing out first-degree murder in the middle of a trial is unusual, and it changed what this jury was allowed to decide. The Citizens' Voice reported Judge David W. Lupas said there was a clear lack of evidence of a planned robbery or a premeditated murder, and left the jury with third-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. The third-degree conviction is the judgment. Sentencing, with a maximum of 40 years, is what is still open.

The Citizens' Voice reported that Jary "G" Javier Fortuna, 33, of Wilkes-Barre, was found guilty of murdering Scott Knox, 33, following about two hours of deliberations on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, the last day of a three-day trial. As he listened to the forewoman read the verdict, Fortuna did not react. Some of Knox's family members audibly sighed in the courtroom gallery. After the verdict, Judge David W. Lupas scheduled sentencing for 10:30 a.m. Dec. 2 and ordered Fortuna remanded to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. The paper reported he faces a maximum of 40 years on the third-degree murder conviction, and that he declined to comment as sheriff's deputies escorted him out of the courthouse.

Earlier Thursday, Lupas threw out first-degree murder, second-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery on a motion for acquittal by defense attorney Max Lubin, of the Kingston firm Lermitte & Lubin. The Citizens' Voice reported Lubin maintained there was no evidence Fortuna planned a robbery or a premeditated murder, and that Lupas agreed, leaving the jury to consider third-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. In dismissing the more serious charges, Lupas said there was "a clear lack of evidence" that Fortuna had planned to rob and murder Knox, and that "the evidence is lacking and insufficient to go to the jury on those particular charges." A mid-trial dismissal of those counts is a ruling on the proof the prosecution put in. The third-degree verdict is what the jury then found.

The Citizens' Voice reported that First Assistant District Attorney Tony Ross, in closing, called a manslaughter conviction for the killing "offensive." Ross told the jury Knox was "indisputably the hunted prey" of a "cowardly group led by this man," Fortuna, on the night of May 7, 2024, and that "this group indisputably worked together implementing a plan concocted by this defendant." The paper reported Ross pointed to surveillance video of the attack, which he said showed Fortuna leading a group down an alleyway to beat Knox and pistol-whip him, and that Ross showed the jury again a body-camera video of police finding Knox bloody and slumped on a porch in South Wilkes-Barre. That video and that closing are the state's argument. They are not a substitute for the counts the judge had already taken off the verdict slip.

Lubin called no defense witnesses. The Citizens' Voice reported he told the jury that Fernando Bracero, 32, the man who wielded the knife, had a "hidden intent" the others had not known about, and that Fortuna knew nothing of the stabbing until a grinning Bracero later pulled out a bloody knife and said, "I stabbed him." The paper reported the prosecution's account of the night was revenge after Knox's friend tried to rip the group off for $40 worth of crack cocaine. Co-defendant Jaime "O.G." Knights, 66, testified Wednesday that Fortuna had been the "ringleader" but that the plan was only to beat Knox up. Knights said, "We was not hunting Scott," and, "It wasn't the plan to stab or shoot anybody." Knights pleaded no contest to third-degree murder and is awaiting sentence. Bracero is serving life in prison after a first-degree murder conviction at a trial over the summer. Justice "Millie" Flenory, 26, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced last week to 12 to 25 years. Jose Rosario-Miranda, 32, remains a fugitive. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.