70-Year Sentence Upheld in Pleasantville Football Game Shooting That Killed 10-Year-Old

PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals court has upheld the conviction and 70-year prison sentence of an Atlantic City man who opened fire at a crowded Pleasantville High School football game in 2019, killing a 10-year-old boy and wounding two other people.

A three-judge Superior Court Appellate Division panel rejected Alvin J. Wyatt's arguments that he was denied a fair trial and that his 70-year sentence was excessive.

Wyatt was convicted in 2023 of murder, two counts of attempted murder and weapons offenses stemming from the Nov. 15, 2019 shooting during a Pleasantville-Camden high school football playoff game.

Ten-year-old Micah Tennant, who was attending the game with his mother and sister, was struck in the neck. He died five days later.

A South Jersey NewsBeat review of the 31-page appellate decision issued Friday found that Wyatt challenged his conviction on several grounds, including alleged prosecutorial misconduct, the admission of graphic police body-camera footage and the handling of testimony from another man wounded in the shooting.

The appellate judges rejected each argument and affirmed both Wyatt's convictions and his sentence.

Court Calls Evidence Against Wyatt 'Overwhelming'

The appellate opinion provides a detailed account of the evidence jurors heard during Wyatt's trial.

Hundreds of spectators, including families and children, were attending the playoff game when gunfire erupted during the second half.

According to the court, Wyatt fired eight shots into the crowd.

In addition to Micah, the gunfire struck Ibn Abdullah, who was shot multiple times and left confined to a wheelchair, and a 15-year-old boy who was struck in the arm.

Police recovered a 9mm handgun underneath a ramp leading to the bleachers. Investigators also recovered shell casings near the victims, three bullets that were removed from Abdullah at the hospital and a bullet fragment recovered from Micah during his autopsy.

Ballistics testing linked the recovered bullets and shell casings to the handgun, according to the appellate decision.

Investigators also had video evidence.

A television cameraman who was at the stadium recording football highlights captured the shooting. According to the appellate court, the video showed Wyatt firing at Abdullah from close range at the bottom of the bleachers.

The appellate panel described the evidence presented against Wyatt at trial as “overwhelming.”

Wyatt Claimed He Acted in Self-Defense

Wyatt testified during his trial and maintained that he fired because he feared for his life.

According to the appellate decision, Wyatt testified that Abdullah had shot at him several weeks before the football game in an incident in which Wyatt's cousin was killed.

Wyatt said that when he encountered Abdullah at the game, Abdullah threatened him and reached toward a gun in his waistband. Wyatt testified that he heard a gunshot and then fired six or seven times while running away.

Wyatt acknowledged possessing the handgun later recovered beneath the ramp and testified that he dropped it while fleeing.

The jury rejected his self-defense claim.

In imposing sentence, the trial judge also rejected Wyatt's argument that he had acted under strong provocation.

The judge concluded Wyatt went to the game intending to kill Abdullah and characterized the shooting as “purposeful and predatory acts to seek revenge.”

The judge also emphasized the danger created by bringing a loaded gun to a high school football game and firing into a crowd of spectators.

Three Victims, Consecutive Sentences

Wyatt's 70-year sentence consists primarily of consecutive prison terms for the three people who were shot.

He was sentenced to:

• 45 years for the murder of Micah.

• 15 years for the attempted murder of Abdullah.

• 10 years for the attempted murder of the 15-year-old victim.

Wyatt also received 10 years for unlawful possession of a handgun and five years for being a person prohibited from possessing a weapon. Those terms are being served concurrently with other portions of the sentence.

The murder and attempted-murder sentences are subject to New Jersey's No Early Release Act, requiring Wyatt to serve 85% of those terms before becoming eligible for parole.

Wyatt challenged the decision to impose consecutive sentences, arguing the resulting 70-year term was excessive.

The appellate court disagreed.

The sentencing judge had found that there were three separate victims and that each deserved recognition in the punishment imposed.

“There can be no free crimes,” the sentencing judge said, according to the appellate opinion.

The judge noted that Micah lost his life, Abdullah was left in a wheelchair and the teenage victim was also entitled to justice for being shot.

The appellate panel said the sentencing court properly considered the overall fairness and real-world consequences of imposing consecutive sentences.

Appeals Court Rejects Fair-Trial Arguments

South Jersey NewsBeat's review of the decision found Wyatt raised three additional arguments in seeking to overturn his convictions.

He contended that a prosecutor improperly questioned him regarding his post-arrest silence; that the trial court violated Abdullah's Fifth Amendment rights by requiring him to testify after he invoked his right against self-incrimination; and that graphic police body-camera footage from the shooting scene was so prejudicial that it should not have been shown to jurors.

The appellate judges rejected those claims.

Regarding the body-camera footage, the panel concluded the trial judge properly determined that the video was relevant to the case and that its evidentiary value was not outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

The court also found no grounds to overturn the conviction based on the prosecutor's questioning or Abdullah's testimony.

'Does Not Shock Our Judicial Conscience'

The appellate judges ultimately found no abuse of discretion in the way Wyatt was sentenced.

They specifically pointed to the fact that Wyatt's gunfire resulted in three separate victims — killing Micah, leaving Abdullah paralyzed and seriously injuring the teenage victim.

The court concluded that imposing consecutive sentences appropriately held Wyatt accountable for each.

“Defendant's seventy-year aggregate sentence ... does not shock our judicial conscience,” the panel wrote.

The judgment was affirmed.

Wyatt, now 38, remains in state prison serving the sentence for a shooting that turned a high school playoff football game into one of Atlantic County's most devastating acts of violence in recent memory.