THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503110272
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
A jury found Shamont Burrell - the former Norfolk State University student accused of murdering one former roommate and wounding a second over campus rivalries - guilty of all charges Friday and recommended 68 years in prison.
The former freshman shook his head slowly as the judge read each verdict: Guilty of first-degree murder, of malicious wounding, of conspiracy and two firearms counts. Behind him, his mother sobbed. Another relative rushed from the courtroom, her face in her hands.
For four days, Burrell, 19, professed his innocence. He sat silently beside his lawyers as they portrayed him as a scapegoat for the real killer, another member of a group of New York students dubbed the 718 Crew.
The other gang member, the lawyers argued, was guilty of killing Gerard Edwards and wounding Ronald Richardson in their dorm room in the early hours of Jan. 18, 1994.
But after two and a half hours of deliberation, the jurors decided against Burrell. . . and his composure broke.
``You all have made a very terrible mistake,'' Burrell said slowly, facing the jurors, surrounded by a buffer of lawyers and sheriff's deputies. ``I've worked hard all my life to send myself to college. I'm breaking my mother's heart as well as my family's. I want you all to realize my life is over. Over.
``I'm sorry for Gerald and Ronald,'' he said. ``But I want you to realize you all have destroyed another life.'' His voice broke; his family sobbed. He slumped. ``That's all I can say.''
One juror bit her lip and cried. Two male jurors tried to hide their tears.
One other juror had begun weeping before Burrell spoke. She had started when Burrell's mother took the witness stand in a last-ditch effort to mitigate the jury's maximum possible sentence on all the charges: Life plus 48 years.
But Deborah Burrell was in shock when she took the stand. She glanced from her son to his lawyer to the jury. ``He's innocent of this crime and I'd like to know how they came to this decision,'' she testifed.
``Put that out of your mind, ma'am,'' said Michael Morchower, her son's attorney. ``I know it's tough. They (the jurors) worked very hard on this case. You know that, don't you?''
Deborah Burrell's eyes were wide, confused. ``No,'' she said. ``I have questions.''
So ended the trial that portrayed NSU's Samuel F. Scott Hall as a dorm plagued by groups of out-of-state students who aligned themselves based on their hometowns.
The most prominent groups were from New York, Washington and Philadelphia, said a former resident adviser. He testified that conditions in and near the dorm were so dangerous that he kept a loaded handgun for protection during his rounds.
At 2:45 a.m. the day after Martin Luther King's Birthday about 14 months ago, Edwards was shot up to 10 times in his room, a victim of gang rivalry, prosecutor Phillip Evans said. Richardson, who was not a member of either group, was shot once. The five students who were indicted, including Burrell, were members of the 718 Crew.
Edwards, from Washington, hung out with other Washington-area students who called themselves the D.C. Boys.
The night before the shooting, the two groups fought at a university-sponsored party at a Newport News roller skating rink. Edwards bested Burrell in that fight, several witnesses said.
The state's case was pegged to the testimony of two co-defendants - Christopher Skinner and Derrick Washington.
According to Skinner, he, Burrell and Washington met in the room of fellow New Yorkers James Powers and Anthony Britton before the murder. Over pizza, they planned to take revenge for the fight. Burrell, who had moved from Edwards' room the previous semester, still had the combination to the door's keypunch lock, enabling him to get in, Skinner said.
According to Washington, Burrell led the way to Edwards' room, followed by Britton and Washington. Skinner went down the hall as a lookout, but then ran away. Burrell punched in the combination, then stepped inside, followed by Britton. Then Washington heard shots, and all three ran.
Morchower attacked the state's case by pointing out inconsistencies in the statements by Skinner and Washington, both of whom made plea agreements. He focused on Washington, who took the 9 mm handgun to the victims' room, carried it away and later helped hide it.
Burrell testified that he and Skinner were downstairs throughout the shooting and that no one discussed the roller rink fight in Powers' room. A friend, also a member of the New York group, supported his story.
But ``the icing'' on the state's case, as one lawyer called it, was the testimony of a freshman not connected to either gang. He said he was walking to the shower that night when he heard the gunshots, then heard someone running up the stairs from the second floor where the shooting occurred. When he turned around, he said, he saw Burrell.
Stephen Johnson, Burrell's father, was despondent after the conviction: ``I don't understand it. How could they convict Shamont with that many conflicts in what those two people said? My son just isn't capable of doing something like that.''
The victims' families were pleased. ``I feel bad for Burrell's parents,'' said Audrey Whitehurst, Richardson's mother. ``But you never know what your child is going to do when's he's gone from home. . . I'm just glad all this is over.''
Richardson leaned against a wall and watched his mother. ``I'm thinking of coming back'' to NSU, he said, barely smiling. ``I think justice was done.''
Yet in many ways, the case is far from over. Powers and Britton, though indicted, are fugitives. In motions before the trial, Evans said at least one student witness had been threatened. Every student who testified asked not to be identified.
A subplot of the trial was the tragic power of peer pressure. Skinner admitted that he and Evans ``got along'' when meeting alone, but wouldn't speak when their groups were present.
Morchower pleaded with the jury for a kind of equity in sentencing: Skinner made a deal for 11 years, he said. Washington, for a 25-year maximum.
``I'm asking you to give this young man some mercy because there's so much inconsistency in this case,'' he begged.
The jury, one-third of its members visibly shaken, apparently took to heart what he said. Burrell received 40 years for the murder conviction; he could have received life. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Bill Tiernan, Staff
Sheriff's deputies prepare to lead Shamont Burrell, center, from the
courtroom Friday after the former NSU student was found guilty.
KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL CONVICTION SENTENCE by CNB