A man convicted in a barroom fight that killed a volunteer fire chief will be sentenced May 16.
George T. Lightcap IV, 30, of Nanty Glo, was convicted of aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter in the Aug. 19 death of Ray E. Stringer, 43, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars club in Nanty Glo.
A Cambria County jury acquitted Lightcap of more serious homicide charges Monday, including first-degree murder.
Still, District Attorney Patrick Kiniry said Lightcap probably faces several years in prison, plus a lengthy probation. Aggravated assault is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison; involuntary manslaughter — a killing that results from reckless or grossly negligent behavior — is a misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in prison.
Lightcap’s attorney argued that Stringer, chief of the Neptune Volunteer Fire Department in Tyrone, was a drunken bully who started the fight and that Lightcap acted in self-defense. Stringer was in town for a firefighter’s convention when he was killed.
Prosecutors said both men were drunk but that Lightcap attacked Stringer, then hit him after he was down.
