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Murderer Convicted, Given Life Sentence

WILKES-BARRE — A murder trial ended Thursday in Luzerne County with a guilty verdict and immediate life sentence. Joshua Ovalles was found guilty of first...

WILKES-BARRE -- A murder trial ended Thursday in Luzerne County with a guilty verdict and immediate life sentence.

Joshua Ovalles was found guilty of first degree murder.

Investigators say Ovalles shot and killed a man in 2013 after an argument on South Grant Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Investigators say Ovalles shot and killed Vaughn Kemp on Grant Street in Wilkes-Barre, just blocks away from his church, the Mount Zion Baptist church.

Lamont Diggs is a church goer at Mt. Zion and remembers Kemp as also dedicated to the church. Authorities say Kemp was gunned down because Ovalles felt disrespected from a bottle being thrown at him. Now with Ovalles in state prison for life, authorities say justice was served.

“We`re very proud to say he will spend his life behind bars, another bad guy off the street,” said Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis.

“We had difficulties with witnesses in the beginning. And that`s what we`re seeing more and more every day with our cases,” Salavantis said.

Olanda Carter knows that experience firsthand. She says her own son who was also a member of Mt. Zion and was gunned down in Wilkes-Barre almost a year ago.  The killer is still on the loose, but now, after hearing about Ovalles` verdict, she`s hopeful that will change.

“I`m happy. At least his murderer was captured and justice was served and his mother can have some peace, knowing justice was served. I`m just waiting to hear the same news about my son,” Carter said.

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