‘His life was stolen from us’: Day two of testimonies ahead of sentencing for man who killed 3 UVA football players

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WRIC) — The Commonwealth's Attorney has called all of its witnesses to testify for the sentencing of the man who killed three University of Virginia football players. Now the court will hear from the defense's chosen witnesses. 

Tuesday, Nov. 18, marked day 2 of 5 for the case against 26-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr.

In 2022, Jones killed D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr. on a charter bus coming back from a school field trip in Washington D.C.  

A full recap of the first day of opening statements and testimony can be found here.

The Commonwealth's Attorney called six people to testify on Tuesday, including a survivor of the shooting and family members of the deceased.

Facts of the case

On Nov. 13, 2022, around 27 UVA students headed to Washington D.C. by bus, leaving campus a little before lunchtime. They were going to see a play as part of their African American Theatre class taught by Professor Theresa Davis.

The first 911 call of shots being fired came in at 10:58 p.m. just as the students were arriving back on campus.

Jones fled the scene and wasn’t arrested until around 11 hours later in Henrico County.

Twenty-two-year-old D’Sean Perry of Miami, Fla., 20-year-old Devin Chandler of Virginia Beach, Va., and 20-year-old Lavel Davis Jr. of Ridgeville, S.C., died on the scene, while Michael Hollins, also a UVA football player at the time, and Marlee Morgan, a student, were wounded.

Jones pleaded guilty to 10 charges on Nov. 20, 2024, including three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and five counts of use of firearm in a felony. His plea deal includes the possibility of parole if given a life sentence.

The prosecution is being led by Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingley, defense by Douglas Ramseur, and is being heard by presiding Judge Cheryl Higgins.

Witness 1

The first witness the Commonwealth called Tuesday was John Cromer, a senior special agent with Virginia State Police.

Cromer was called to the scene of the shooting the night it happened.

Two days later, on the afternoon of Nov. 15, 2022, Cromer served four warrants to Jones in jail after he was arrested in Henrico County the day before. Cromer said he didn't question Jones about anything, but simply needed to go through the paperwork of the new charges with him.

He was serving him with two counts of malicious wounding and two counts of use of a firearm in a felony. These were for shooting Michael Hollins and Marlee Morgan.

Cromer said he verbally presented the charges to Jones, and when he mentioned Morgan, Jones lurched forward and asked, "Is she dead?"

Cromer said Jones had no reaction when he said Michael Hollins's name.

Witness 2

The Commonwealth then called Marlee Morgan to the stand.

Morgan graduated from UVA in May, and is now in graduate school studying multi-media photography and design. She is a first-generation college student.

Morgan was taking Professor Davis's class and knew all three victims. She also knew Jones from a separate class and was even paired with him the week before to work on a project.

Morgan and Jones discussed the field trip and knew each other would be there. Jones even picked up chips for Morgan to have on the bus ride.

Morgan said she and Jones talked while waiting to get on the bus and head to D.C. He handed her the chips, and she didn't notice anything particular about his behavior then or at any other point during the day.

On the bus ride back to campus, she said everyone was mingling and laughing. This is similar to what two other students who were on the bus testified to on day one.

Morgan said she was sitting next to Lavel Davis who was in the window seat. Jones was sitting right in front of them. Morgan said at one point Jones asked them both if they enjoyed the play and then asked Davis about a video game.

Morgan didn't notice any other interactions with Davis or the other victims.

As they were slowing down on campus, Morgan said she heard the first shot that came between the seats in front of her where Jones was sitting. She saw Davis next to her looking confused and holding his ears because of the sound.

She then heard Jones yell, "B---- a-- n----."

She heard more shots, moved further toward the back of the bus and was huddling against another student as even more shots rang out. Devin Chandler was in the seat in front of them at this point. She said the shots were drawn out between each one.

Morgan said she and the student she was hiding with didn't know each other, but gave each other a squeeze after each shot to make sure they were still alive, too scared to speak and draw attention to themselves.

Jones eventually got off the bus but Morgan doesn't know when. Eventually, she made her way off, but saw Chandler slumped in the seat in front of her and had to step over Davis's body in the aisle to do so.

Once she was off the bus, she realized she had been shot in the left hip, the bullet exiting her buttock. She was in a nearby grassy area where she got some medical attention before being taken into the theatre building and then the hospital where she stayed for three days.

She said the aftermath of the shooting has impacted her ever since. Her grade point average fell from a 3.7 to a 1.7 because she didn't want to step foot on campus. She has paranoia and hates being in large crowds because of the unpredictability of it.

"It's exhausting," she said on the stand. "My prayer is that even the defendant gives his pain or worry...to God as well."

Witnesses 3 and 4

Both of D'Sean Perry's older sisters, Dominique Alexis and D'Shandre Perry, read victim impact statements to the court. They took the witness stand together, sporting Perry's jersey number, 41, on their outfits.

Alexis, the oldest sister and eight years older than Perry, read her statement first, saying Perry "was stolen from us."

She was seven months pregnant when he was killed. She said the last time they spoke, she told him if she was having a boy, she was going to name him D'Sean after him. She said he was so excited to be become an uncle.

Alexis ended up having a girl, but named her Emir, Perry's middle name.

She said losing Perry has been "a special kind of torture" and that she dreads the holiday season "without the glue that is D'Sean."

Perry's middle sister, D'Shandre, is two years older than him.

She said losing Perry "shattered the whole foundation of who we are," but that "his light will shine forever." She said the past three years have been filled with nothing but grief and battling depression.

Witness 5

The fifth witness who took the stand was D'Sean Perry's mother, Happy.

She was handed a photo of Perry and said, "This is my baby...He was so happy. He was happy to be here."

In a statement she read for the court, she said it would be hard to put into words what losing Perry has been like because it would be like "saying my goodbyes, and I'm not ready for that."

She described Perry as a protector who always righted his wrongs. She said he ran track, played basketball and was a five-star football player. But none of that compared to his excitement to become an uncle.

She said the last time they communicated was at 10:17 p.m. on Nov. 13, 2022, 41 minutes before he was shot. She said to him, "I love you handsome," and he responded, "I love you too ma."

She reminisced on Perry telling her less than a month before he was killed that he wanted to declare for the NFL draft and wanted to "make [his] family proud."

"To be honest, I've been full of hate and rage asking myself, 'why'"? she said on the stand.

Perry's sister, Dominique, had planned her baby shower and gender reveal for the weekend after he died. Even though he didn't know the gender, Happy said Perry shipped a pink diamond and stone bracelet as a gift.

Witness 6

The final witness the Commonwealth called was Kwamie Green, Lavel Davis's aunt. Her statement was read on behalf of his entire family.

"Everything feels different," she said.

She described Davis as a hometown hero and a Christian. Green said their family meets every Sunday night to spend time together and spoke to Davis over video call the day he was shot. She remembered him saying he loved them all, and told his little brother and sister to "make good choices." This was something they always said to each other.

Green expressed the family's frustration of not having a final goodbye or last hug with Davis -- just dreams of what could have been.

She talked about the "immense sacrifices" Davis's father made to ensure he was always at football practice from age six on, and joked about trying to keep a young athlete like him fed.

Green said today, Davis's little brother wears his high school football number in his honor, and wishes he was here to see his sister excel at volleyball and graduate from high school in 2026.

A character award for students in his hometown has been created and the family is working on a Boys and Girls Club in his honor.

She said it is hard to know Jones will still be able to experience family moments even from behind bars.

It only took the court around an hour and 50 minutes to get through the witnesses on day two. The defense team did not tell their witnesses to be in court until day three. Testimonies will continue on Wednesday, Nov. 19.