A Lehigh County man was sentenced to serve up to five years in prison after beating a 38-year-old man to death outside an Allentown restaurant.
On Thursday, Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Thomas M. Caffrey sentenced 33-year-old Hosheem Johnnyray Klotz of Macungie to serve 30 to 60 months imprisonment on a misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter charge.
Klotz also received an additional 18 months to 59 months, 20 days for a probation violation. The sentences will run consecutively.
Klotz was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter following a jury trial on Dec. 11, 2025. He was acquitted of a felony aggravated assault charge.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced the sentencing Thursday evening. Rory Brooks Driscole, the court-appointed attorney representing Klotz, told lehighvalleylive.com Friday evening the jury clearly didn’t agree Klotz was malicious in the attack in finding him not guilty on the aggravated assault charge.
“This was a sad and difficult case,” Driscole said. “It is truly a tragedy, particularly because the victim was Hosheem’s best friend, and that is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Ultimately, the jury carefully considered the evidence and reached the correct verdict in finding him not guilty of third-degree murder and aggravated assault.”
Allentown police were called about 6:40 p.m. March 9, 2023, to North 10th and Linden streets for a report of an unconscious man lying in the street.
Officers and paramedics found Mastapha Brown seated on the curb, where he was conscious and speaking, prosecutors said.
Brown reported being punched and knocked to the ground by an unknown male assailant. Brown was then taken to an area hospital by private vehicle after refusing medical treatment at the scene, police said.
Brown was pronounced dead March 13, 2023, at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill. Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio ruled the death a homicide caused by blunt force head trauma.
Witnesses identified Klotz as the assailant, with one saying Brown was assaulted by Klotz after he got out of a nearby parked car.
Video from multiple sources showed Klotz and Brown engaged in an argument at the city restaurant along North 10th Street.
An investigation showed Klotz dragged the victim outside the restaurant and struck him numerous times. Brown fell to the ground and Klotz continued the assault, striking the victim’s head on the road, prosecutors said.
Driscole claims the pair got into a dispute while inside the eatery. The push was on uneven sidewalk, which caused the victim to fall, he said.
“Should the jury have agreed with the prosecution’s version … he surely would’ve been convicted of aggravated assault and possibly even the third-degree murder,” Driscole said. “He was not.”
This case was investigated by Allentown Police Detective Theodore Kiskeravage and Lehigh County Homicide Task Force Detective Daniel Reagan. It was prosecuted by Lehigh County Senior Deputy District Attorneys Ashley N. Troxell and Patricia Turzyn.