Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell conveyed this grave development to Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. via a video link to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail on a Friday morning.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. is facing a slew of new charges that have escalated his legal predicament from second-degree murder to aggravated murder
This decision came after a special grand jury, assembled back in May, reached the conclusion on Wednesday to bring forth a staggering 13 new counts against Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.. The chilling incident in question unfolded when Jones allegedly opened fire on his classmates during a charter bus ride returning from a field trip in Washington. His targets included UVA football players, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis, and D’Sean Perry, as well as fellow student Marlee Morgan.
The special jury has slapped Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. with six counts of aggravated murder for the homicides of the aforementioned UVA football players. Notably, three of these charges pertain to the willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of multiple individuals within a single act, while the other three revolve around similar killings within a three-year timeframe.
Virginia‘s 2021 decision to abolish the death penalty has led to the reclassification of capital murder charges into aggravated murder, with a mandatory life sentence for those found guilty of Class 1 felony aggravated murder. In stark contrast, second-degree murder convictions may offer a chance at parole.
Furthermore, the charges related to the malicious wounding of Marlee Morgan and football player Mike Hollins have now been upgraded to aggravated malicious wounding, constituting Class 2 felony offenses that carry a potential punishment of 20 years to life imprisonment.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. faces five new accusations for unlawfully using or displaying a firearm while committing a felony
The initial conviction for this firearm charge is an unclassified felony with a mandatory minimum prison term of three years, with subsequent convictions subject to mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment lasting five years.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was apprehended by law enforcement on the morning of November 14, 2022, nearly 80 miles from the University of Virginia campus, in his home county of Henrico, Virginia, outside of Richmond, following an extensive 12-hour manhunt.
Prior to the tragic events, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. had already come under the scrutiny of authorities when a classmate reported in September of the same year that Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was in possession of a firearm. This led to an investigation, during which the school uncovered Jones’s 2021 misdemeanor concealed weapon violation conviction.
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