An 18-year-old Cleveland man has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping and felonious assault in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jahari Stegall, closing out a case that had been headed toward a jury trial just days earlier. Royal King entered the plea rather than face the panel, bringing a year-long investigation into Stegall’s death toward a resolution without testimony or a verdict.
A Shooting Outside a Neighborhood Store
Stegall was shot around 7 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2025, in the 800 block of East 185th Street, according to Cleveland.com. Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene, and the medical examiner determined he died from a gunshot wound to the head, the outlet later reported.
Investigators have offered conflicting names for the store where the shooting happened. Cleveland.com identified it as the Quix Food Store at 870 E. 185th St., while Cleveland19 referred to the location as the E. 185th Deli. Investigators said security video appeared to show King waiting inside the store for Stegall to arrive before the shooting, per the same cleveland.com account.
From Indictment to Arrest
A Cuyahoga County grand jury initially charged King with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and gun charges, according to the report. Authorities arrested King on Oct. 29, 2025, after the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force located him at a home on East 147th Street, the outlet noted — an operation that, per the U.S. Marshals, involved federal and local law enforcement working the case together.
King’s attorney, Clarissa Smith, had said her client intended to pursue a self-defense argument as the case moved toward trial, the article states. That defense never reached a jury: King accepted the plea deal and avoided a trial that had been scheduled to begin the week of Oct. 5, 2026, according to the same reporting.
What Comes Next
Cuyahoga County Judge Peter Corrigan is scheduled to sentence King on Oct. 14, 2026. The guilty plea resolves the central question of King’s role in Stegall’s death, though the terms of the agreement and the sentence Corrigan will impose have not been detailed in court records cited so far.
