Listen 2 min

       Share

       The charges against a former U-Va. football player accused of shooting and killing three members of the team in November have been upgraded to the most serious murder counts available under Virginia law, ones that carry a mandatory life sentence, a prosecutor announced Friday.

       Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. ArrowRight

       A special grand jury returned 13 charges against Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. on Wednesday, including aggravated murder for the slayings of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis and D’Sean Perry. The three football players were fatally shot on a charter bus that had just returned to the U-Va. campus from a field trip on Nov. 13.

       Two others were injured in the shooting, including running back Mike Hollins, who returned to the playing field last week. The attack prompted the lockdown of the campus and a major manhunt before Jones was captured about 12 hours later.

       Advertisement

       The new indictments supersede the lesser charges of second-degree murder and other counts Jones was already facing.

       Share this article Share

       James Hingeley, the Albemarle County commonwealth’s attorney, said in a statement the new charges include six counts of aggravated murder, two counts of malicious wounding and five counts of using a firearm in commission of a felony.

       Hingeley said he only intends to seek three convictions for aggravated murder, but obtained two sets of charges under different code sections for strategic reasons.

       “These alternate theories of guilt with different elements give the Commonwealth the widest latitude in presenting evidence, but ultimately the Commonwealth is seeking three convictions of aggravated murder, not six,” Hingeley said.

       Elizabeth P. Murtagh, the public defender representing Jones, wrote in an email that “we are very disappointed that the prosecutor chose this way to proceed,” but declined to comment on Jones’s guilt or innocence on the charges.

       Advertisement

       Police have not released a motive in the shooting, and those who know Jones have struggled to make sense of what happened. A prosecutor said at Jones’s arraignment in November that a witness said Jones appeared to be targeting his victims, but gave no reason.

       Ryan Lynch, who witnessed the shooting, said Jones did not interact with the football players much on the trip, which was meant for the students to see a play in D.C. She said others on the bus told her Jones said something to the effect of, “You guys are always messing with me,” before opening fire.

       Jones waived his preliminary hearing on the original charges in August, and the next hearing in his case is scheduled for Oct. 2. No trial date has been set. Hingeley said in his statement that the special grand jury was empaneled in May and had been meeting for several months before returning the latest indictments.

       Share

       Loading...