Defense presents troubled childhood during Day 3 of UVA shooter sentencing

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WWBT) - During day three of sentencing for the murders of three UVA football players, the defense now having a chance to show the judge who Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. is.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. shot and killed Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry on a bus as they returned to Grounds from a class field trip on Nov. 13, 2022.

Two other students - Mike Hollins and Marlee Morgan - were also injured in the shooting.

Jones pleaded guilty in November 2024 to:

• Three counts of first-degree murder
• Two counts of aggravated malicious wounding
• Five counts of using a firearm during the commission of a felony.

On Wednesday, multiple family members and close mentors said Jones had a difficult childhood, filled with abuse, trauma, and poverty.

Antonio Clarke Jr., a close cousin to Jones, described his home life as a “war zone.”

Jones grew up in the Richmond area, attending Varina High School in Henrico until his senior year, when he transferred to Petersburg High School.

Although his home life in Petersburg was described as rocky and without any kind of parental figure around, the witnesses laid out the success Jones found.

He was the homecoming king at the high school and was even featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Dr. Cyndee Blount, an administrator in the Petersburg school division when Jones was a senior, described her close relationship with him.

She said he was a good student who was focused on going to college.

During her testimony, when asked to recount the moment she found out police were searching for Jones in connection with the shooting, she said she was “speechless.”

Blount broke down on the stand and said she couldn’t believe he committed these crimes. Jones himself started choking up, a change from his usual stoic demeanor in the courtroom.

Other mentors also testified on Wednesday, describing what a bright future they thought Jones had in front of him.

Jones went to UVA in the fall of 2018 and joined the football team, but shortly left the program. He was not on the team at the same time as any of the victims.

A common theme presented by the defense, backed up by the witnesses, was that Jones’ demeanor switched during the summer of 2022, a few months before the shooting.

He began acting paranoid, believing people from Petersburg were coming after him.

Both Clarke and his father told the courtroom that summer was the first time they had seen Jones since he went to UVA.

“He was a whole different Chris,” Clarke said.

During cross-examination, the prosecution argued that Jones had mental health resources available to him at UVA, but did not seek them out.

The commonwealth’s attorneys instead described a young man with violent outbursts throughout his life. They specifically brought up a time in a UVA classroom, where Jones snapped at a student, and the teacher had to get in between them.

Jones also had multiple run-ins with law enforcement before the shooting. This included charges for a hit-and-run and carrying a firearm without a permit.

The prosecution also said that in 2022, Jones was selling and using drugs. They asked a handful of witnesses if they were aware of this. Those witnesses said no.

Jones faces anywhere from 23 years in jail to multiple life sentences.

The court will resume again on Thursday morning in Albemarle County Circuit Court.

It is slated to go until Friday.