THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090394
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
A jury took about four hours Wednesday to return a verdict of guilty of capital murder against Reginald Evans, who was 15 when he fatally shot a cab driver during a robbery.
The jury also found Evans guilty of attempted robbery, conspiracy and two firearms charges in the shooting death of Donald Reynolds.
Evans faces a life term for the murder, up to 10 years each on the attempted robbery and conspiracy charges, three years on one firearms charge and five years on the other. Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Poston scheduled sentencing for April 24.
Evans, now 16, showed little emotion as the verdict was read after two days of testimony. Prosecutors initially had sought the death penalty, but could not pursue that punishment because of his age.
For Reynolds' family, the trial's conclusion brought some closure to the ordeal that began April 26 - the day that Donald Reynolds, 43, was shot four or five times by a fare who emptied his gun in the back seat of his cab.
``He got what he deserved,'' said Bill Reynolds, Donald Reynolds' brother. ``He's one predator who's off the streets. As young as (Evans) is, he's a father himself. But I don't think it meant a thing to him that he took a father away from four children.''
Evans' cousin and codefendant, Howard Chapman, was convicted Jan. 9 of first-degree murder and attempted robbery and faces sentencing March 22.
One of the most difficult moments for Reynolds' family came when Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Lisa Caton pulled from a paper bag the bloodstained shirt Donald Reynolds wore the night he died. She pointed to holes made by bullets that pierced his back. She pointed to the gunpowder marks that surrounded the holes.
``That's your brother's shirt - your brother's blood bleeding out of him,'' Bill Reynolds said.
Caton argued that Reginald Evans gave the best possible account of the crime in his taped confession to police. But defense lawyers countered, saying that Evans' statement, the second he made to police, had been coerced.
``You heard Reginald Evans' voice,'' Caton said. ``Did he sound scared? Did he sound remorseful? Did he care what he had done?''
Defense lawyers pointed to testimony by Evans' two sisters that they saw him get out of the front seat of the car, despite his two statements to police in which he said he was sitting in the back.
In her closing, defense attorney Fay Spence argued that the only evidence that Evans pulled the trigger was his second statement.
``We're not trying to tell you he's pure as the driven snow,'' she said. ``We're not trying to tell you he wasn't involved. . . . But if you have a reasonable doubt, you have to resolve that doubt in his favor.''
Bhavani Reynolds, the victim's 17-year-old daughter, came away from the trial believing that justice had been served.
``I would have been happy with a lesser sentence if Evans had shown some remorse,'' she said. ``But he just doesn't seem to care. In the tapes, he was more concerned about his $5 he loaned his cousin than that he just killed a man.''
But the court proceedings left her with a hollow feeling.
``I expected myself to feel satisfied,'' she said. ``But it really didn't change anything. Nothing's going to bring him back. Nothing's going to fix it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color drawing
Reginald Evans
KEYWORDS: TRIAL MURDER by CNB