A Staunton man faces a second-degree murder charge following a Tuesday meeting of the Shenandoah Multi-Jurisdictional Grand Jury.
Staunton Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Robertson said the special grand jury waited to hear from Deshawn Jerome Kelly himself before coming to their decision to charge him.
Authorities said Kelly, 33, fought in January with Jamil Hakime Ford, 32, of Staunton, on Hickory Street. Ford later died from a stab wound received in the fray. A police search warrant filed in Augusta County Circuit Court stated Ford was jealous of a relationship between Kelly and a Staunton woman.
Police said Kelly disappeared after the fight. Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr. issued an order to arrest him, and Kelly’s name climbed atop the city’s Most Wanted list. Authorities arrested him March 13.
“When we finally got a hold of him, they just held him on a capias for a probation violation,” Robertson said.
The grand jury listened to testimony from people on both sides, “anybody who knew anything about the case,” Robertson said.
The prosecutor said his office decided to use the nine-person special grand jury to ensure a fair investigation of the matter and to get “a fresh set of eyes, ears and minds” on the case.
“We had a victim and a potential defendant who both had criminal records,” he said. “There was talk on the street that any investigation by the local police department might be biased.”
Since 2007, Staunton Circuit Court records show Kelly convicted of burglary, larceny, destruction of property, malicious wounding and drug possession.
Ford was convicted of cocaine distribution, probation violations, assault and battery, and breaking and entering between 1997 and his death.
If convicted of second-degree murder, Kelly could face 40 years in prison.
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