CHESTER – DoorDash shooting victim Alpha Barry was “relieved” that the man who put a bullet in his back last May was convicted by a jury on Thursday.

”Not so much for the conviction but for the fact that the jury believed him,” said Barry’s attorney, Rudyard Whyte of The Cochran Firm,  who is representing the 24-year-old in a civil lawsuit filed last November against John Reilly III and the Town of Chester. “He was very concerned that he was being made out to not being truthful. We take no pleasure in the conviction and even less so in Reilly’s remand but we think that justice was done and Mr. Reilly has to be held accountable for what he did.”

Reilly, the Town of Chester’s former Highway Supervisor, was convicted in Orange County Court on Thursday on two counts of felony assault and eight counts of criminal possession of a firearm for shooting Barry after he became lost and arrived to his home on Valerie Drive with a food delivery. He now faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Craig Brown on May 18.

Reilly’s attorney Thomas Kenniff, pressed the soft-spoken Barry hard about the night he was shot while he was on the stand for testimony. Barry utilized a French interpreter, but still often struggled answering questions from the seasoned Kenniff, who in 2023 convinced a jury to acquit Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide after he used a chokehold on an agitated New York City subway rider. A native of Guinea, Barry speaks French, and is still learning English.

“Mr. Barry’s life is forever changed,” Whyte said. “He is still haunted by that night. He is trying to physically heal but the psychological toll will stay with him forever.”