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Jane Harper covers state and federal courts for The Pilot. A native of Southeast Texas, she earned her journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin and worked at newspapers in Texas and Maryland before moving to Norfolk in 1994.
Michael Shipp, owner and founder of East Coast Bicycles on Colley Avenue, was killed Thursday after being struck by a pickup truck on a state highway in South Carolina. He'd just turned 53 two days before, on Valentine's Day.
Brandon Wysong pleaded guilty to killing his wife, Elena, in November 2019 at their home. A 12-year-old daughter Elena Wysong had from a previous relationship, and two children she shared with Brandon Wysong, were in the house when the shots were fired.
Bradley Marconi Meyers, 20, and Tyler John Hines, 21, each pleaded guilty to one count of destruction of property for the damage caused in February 2021 at the Delta Hotels by Marriott, located on Shore Drive in Virginia Beach.
The city's 2022 violent crime rate was down about 12% from the previous year and 20% from four years ago. But property crime in the city continued to trend upward, with a 12% increase in incidents reported in 2022 compared to the previous year.
A judge threw out a petition seeking to have a special grand jury investigate Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi as a public nuisance. The judge criticized the attempt as a publicity stunt and ordered Amina Matheny-Willard, the attorney who filed it, to pay a $500 fine.
Rashad Dooley, 29, was found guilty in September of conspiracy to commit murder and burglary, and attempted robbery in connection with Old Dominion University student Christopher Cummings' 2011 death. On Friday, a judge sentenced him to 25 years in jail.
A jury took just a little more than a half hour to determine that Andre Debrough was not guilty of killing his friend and supervisor, Willie Allen, in 2017. It was the second time in six years Debrough had been cleared of all charges at the end of a trial in Portsmouth Circuit Court.
Email communications between police and prosecutors released Friday suggest that prostitution-related charges against Rock Church Senior Pastor John Blanchard were withdrawn after he underwent a psychosexual examination and participated in sex offender counseling.
A jury acquitted Javon Doyle, 32, after a little more than two hours of deliberations. It was Doyle's second trial in the case. The first ended with a hung jury.
Portsmouth District Judge Roxie Holder dismissed all charges against Raymond Gore at the end of a preliminary hearing. The judge said she didn't believe prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to establish probable cause in the case.