Two teenagers convicted of robbery

Kyle Chaplin

Jamal Neal

Two teenagers were late this evening convicted of robbing a BTL Technician in September 2009. Both Kyle Chaplin and Jamal Neal were each given five year sentences. According to our court reporter, eighteen year old Chaplin was disrespectful to the Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer during trial and things turned nasty when sentencing was handed down.  Chaplin attacked a freelance reporter as he was leaving the court.  On September third, 2009 at the BTL booth on Vernon Street, Ronald Dominquez was held at gun point and robbed of his chain, bracelet, ring, cell phone and ninety dollars in cash. The trial of the men concluded this afternoon and the senior magistrate told the men that the evidence before the court was overwhelming against them and that she was convinced that the prosecutor, Elizabeth Purcell, proved her case against the teenager. She also noted that she was not convinced by Neal’s alibi witness, his Aunt, Denis Dawson, since the time frame she gave the court conflicted with the time Neal told the court he was at her house.  Both Chaplin and Neal have another robbery charge pending for robbing Cleo Cherrington in December 2009.  We note that Purcell is a new prosecutor for the Police Department. She was previously with the DPP’s office.