From The Tribune staff reports
BIRMINGHAM — A 24-year-old man has been convicted of provocation manslaughter in a 2017 killing where a local church deacon was shot to death in his vehicle.
Burton was convicted of killing 54-year-old Sylvester Poole after the two got into an argument while in Poole’s truck, which was parked on the 1500 block of Avenue F in Ensley on Nov. 1.
Poole was found slumped over the steering wheel of his still-running pickup truck around 3 p.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told police that they heard gunshots coming from the truck, and then a man exited the vehicle and walked away. Police reported that forensic evidence at the scene backed up witness reports that the killer was inside the vehicle with the victim.
The victim was a deacon at a Birmingham church.
Burton continues to be held at the Jefferson County Jail pending sentencing. Manslaughter is a Class B felony in the state of Alabama.