Pocono News Section

Man Found Not Guilty in White House Cafe Killing

Man Found Not Guilty in White House Cafe Killing - Friday, May 23, 2008 at 10:30PM EST

Reported by: WBRE News
Friday, May 23, 2008 @ 10:30pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY - A man accused in a deadly shooting is free.

Late Friday, a Luzerne County jury acquitted Byron Vinson on charges he shot and killed a man and wounded a woman. The jury returned its verdict in under three hours.

The shootings happened outside the White House Cafe last June. That bar is now closed because of neighborhood violence.

District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said the outcome of the trial is the result of reluctant witnesses. "There were many witnesses the jury was able to see on camera but those witnesses would not and did not come forward. In investigating these cases it becomes very difficult to put cases together when there are witnesses who will not cooperate," she said.

Vinson's defense mounted a theory that there was actually another gunman. Prosecutors have denied those claims.