OBSERVER file photo Police vehicles are pictured in Sinclairville in July 2022 after a 19-year-old was shot and killed during a street fight.

MAYVILLE — A teenager involved in a fatal shooting in Sinclairville faces up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to a first-degree manslaughter charge.

Jason Schmidt, Chautauqua County district attorney, confirmed Wednesday that the defendant, whose name has been withheld because he was a youth at the time of the killing, entered the guilty plea as jury selection was scheduled to begin in Chautauqua County Court.

Joseph Misciagno, 19, of Cassadaga, was killed July 5, 2022, after being shot once in the back during a daytime fight at Reed and Park streets in Sinclairville. The fight, and subsequent fatal shooting, occurred “just outside a baseball field where little leaguers and their families were present,” Schmidt said.

The youth was later indicted by a Chautauqua County grand jury on the first-degree manslaughter charge; jury selection was set to begin this past Monday when the guilty plea was entered, the DA said.

Sentencing in Chautauqua County Court is scheduled for March 1.

“No reductions were offered, and no sentencing promises were made, to the defendant in exchange for his guilty plea,” Schmidt said in a statement Wednesday. “One way or the other — whether by plea or conviction after trial — it was our intention to hold this individual responsible for the crime he committed.

“We could only do that as a result of the investigation conducted by our Sheriff’s Office, whose detectives worked tirelessly to ensure we had the evidence needed to obtain a conviction. They deserve the credit here. More will be said following sentencing.”

At the time of the shooting in July 2022, law enforcement said Misciagno had died after he was shot in the lower back during a “scuffle” during the evening.

Sheriff James Quattrone said the Cassadaga teenager was among six people in the area of Reed and Park streets in Sinclairville around 7:30 p.m. when the incident occurred. At some point, the sheriff said, the victim was struck in the back with a single gunshot.

After being shot, Quattrone said Misciagno got into a truck and drove for about a quarter-mile before the vehicle left the road and struck some trees.