Retrial denied, but sentence reduced for Henrico man involved in Charles City shooting

A Henrico man will serve a 29-year prison sentence after his request for a new trial was denied by Judge Thomas B. Hoover.

JoQuan W. Hawkins, 21, of 2 West Gerald Street, learned his fate during Charles City Circuit Court proceedings Friday afternoon.

Hawkins was convicted during a two-day trial last August on three counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle, two counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony, and one count each of aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding. Those convictions stemmed from an altercation in 2012 in which the defendant fired 13 shots into a crowd after a fight between Jege Jefferson and Justin Brown occurred. Brown, along with Westmore Tabb, were wounded in the shooting.

Last October, the defendant asked for a new trial citing what he labeled inadequacies and unprofessionalism in the handling of the his case by his previous defense attorney, Mufeed Said. Those motions carried over under new attorney Richard Collins and were presented last Friday.

Through talks with his client, Collins argued that hospital records at the Medical College of Virginia indicated no patients from Sept. 9-12, 2012 had gunshot wounds. Hoover rebutted, saying the evidence could have been presented during the discovery phase of the trial, but was not. Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Tyler confirmed providing all evidence to Said.

Hoover turned his attention to the defendant, asking him who provided him the medical information from the hospital. At first, Hawkins refused to reveal a name, claiming confidentiality. After further demand from Hoover, Hawkins spoke up.

“Derrick,” responded Hawkins.

“Derrick who?” returned the judge. “What is Derrick’s last name?”

“I don’t know his last name, sir,” answered Hawkins.

“So you’re telling me this guy whose last name you don’t know would get you the information you need for the trial?” responded Hoover. “Do you have anything in writing?”

“No,” concluded Hawkins.

“I don’t know how you said you could write a letter to your ‘good’ friend, but yet you don’t know his address or his last name,” concluded Hoover.

Similar testimony from Hawkins claimed his friend spoke to a nurse named “Carol” on the phone. Once again, Hoover criticized the defendant for not having specific details. Eventually, Tyler spoke up, obviously agitated by the nearly one-and-a-half year old case.

“This is just another stall tactic. It’s unbelievable,” said the commonwealth’s attorney. “If he has another continuance, the next time he’ll be in here he’ll have another reason, and if he had the opportunity, he’d do it for the next 115 years.

“This is a habeas issue, not an issue for retrial,” Tyler concluded.

Collins called two witnesses to the stand on behalf of Hawkins. There, both witnesses said those who testified at the August trial violated Hoover’s order not to speak about the case with other individuals. When the judge asked why nobody brought the alleged offense to the court’s attention, they each said they notified Said.

Collins argued that the witnesses speaking with each other was grounds for a new trial. However, the judge pointed to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that says that if a judge’s order is violated, it must be addressed during the trial. And after hearing testimony on the incident, he took a firmer stance on the decision.

“It was said by these two witnesses today that these issues were brought to the previous defense attorney and it is up to him to decide to notify the court or not,” said Hoover. “Nothing I’ve heard from the alleged conversations your witnesses claimed they overheard makes me believe they would have changed the testimony of those witnesses.

“It’s like two teams playing against each other. It’s ‘trash talk’ as they say on the street,” the judge concluded.

With all defense motions denied, the case moved to the sentencing phase, with Hoover reading the sentencing guidelines having a range of 8-14 years. He also indicated that the jury returned verdicts recommending 39 years on the seven charges, the minimum amount of time to serve.

“The defendant shot 13 times, wounding two people and shooting into vehicles occupied by people,” Hoover began. “It started off as people outside watching a fistfight and turned into them running for cover.

“This wasn’t once, this was multiple shots fired,” he continued. “The gun was not used for his personal defense or safety. What gets me is why he would carry a large caliber pistol when he’s not the one involved in the fight.

“I also take into account the defendant’s lack of a criminal record,” added Hoover. “It’s a minimum record, but he does have two charges on possession of a weapon as a juvenile.”

Hawkins will serve two years each on three charges of shooting into an occupied vehicle (six years total). He received mandatory three- and five-year sentences on two charges of use of a firearm to commit a felony. Five years were imposed on a single charge of malicious shooting. Finally, Hoover reduced a recommended sentence of 20 years to 10 years of active time on one charge of aggravated malicious wounding, with the other 10 years suspended to bring the total of time to serve to 29 years.

Through his defense attorney, Hawkins is planning to appeal the conviction.

In other circuit court proceedings:

–Jason McCoy Bell, 21, of the 4900 block of Shop Street, Chesterfield, accepted a plea deal on one count of grand larceny. Bell admitted that on July 11 of last year he stole a firearm belonging to David Bowling. The defendant later sold the firearm, as well as confiscated jewelry to a pawn shop. Under the agreement, the charge will be reduced to misdemeanor petty larceny upon completion of the Chesterfield/Colonial Heights drug program and substantial progress repaying $15,900 in restitution.

–Xavier Marquis Wallace, 20, of the 6100 block of Sturgeon Point Road, Charles City, accepted a plea deal and entered guilty pleas to one count each of destruction of property and misdemeanor destruction of property. In a summary of evidence, last Oct. 15 Wallace got into an altercation with one of the victims, Cethas Cotman. Wallace trespassed on property Cotman owned, damaging siding and dry wall of a house. During the rampage, the defendant also damaged two cars belonging to Rex Parker, resulting in the felony charge. Under the agreement, the felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor if he repays $1,654 by a September court date.