ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A man who was charged in a 2018 Allentown homicide and aggravated assault has pleaded guilty, District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan said.
According to the DA, Vyante Green, 31, of Allentown, pleaded guilty during a hearing on Friday to charges of criminal homicide (murder in the third degree) and aggravated assault.
Green was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years and a maximum of 50 years in state prison, Holihan said.
According to authorities, the man has been in custody since his arrest in 2018.
Green was initially convicted of First-Degree Murder in 2020, but was granted a new trial on appeal after it was determined that the judge should have instructed the jury about voluntary manslaughter, officials say.
In 2023, Green was found guilty of murder of the third degree and aggravated assault at a second jury trial, the DA said.
That verdict was then overturned by court officials who decided the defendant should have been permitted to present character witnesses about his non-violent behavior despite his admission to shooting both victims, Holihan said.
On Jan. 1, 2018, Green shot and killed Kenyatta Eutsey, 23, of Bethlehem, and shot and seriously injured Dimitri Joseph, 24, of New Jersey, authorities say.
According to officials, the shootings occurred at a home in the 1100 block of W. Turner St. that had been rented for a New Year’s Eve party.
Authorities say during his first trial, Green admitted to shooting both Eutsey and Joseph in the early morning of New Year’s Day at the party.
The man claimed he shot Eutsey because he “snatched” his cellphone from him and then shot Joseph immediately after that. Green acknowledged that he did not see a weapon in either of the men’s hands.
Green then fled from the party to a nearby after-hours club, officials say.
The next day, when he learned that Eutsey had succumbed to his injuries and that Joseph was seriously injured, Green got rid of the handgun used in the shooting and made plans to flee to New York, according to DA Holihan.