NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A man will serve 10 years in prison after he fatally shot a teen who was in the process of stealing his car from a Norfolk 7-Eleven.
34-year-old Jayvon Deon Smith was sentenced to 10 years on Friday, after a jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter and unlawfully shooting into an occupied vehicle. Police originally charged him with second-degree murder in the case.
At the sentencing, Judge David Lannetti suspended another five years on several conditions, including Smith being five years of good behavior post-release and paying restitution to the victim’s family.
The shooting back in May 2023 left a 17-year-old dead. Prosecutors say the teen stole Smith’s running car outside a 7-Eleven on E. Virginia Beach Blvd. after Smith went inside the store. Smith came back out and shot multiple times at the victim through the windshield.
After the teen backed up and crashed into a column at the gas pump, Smith approached and resumed shooting. The teen died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the torso.
“Contrary to popular belief, it is a crime to use deadly force to ‘defend’ one’s property,” said Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “While the victim in this case was himself committing a crime, Mr. Smith had no legal excuse for killing the victim. Mr. Smith created his own problem by leaving his car running and easy to steal, and he should have called 911 for the police to handle the situation. Instead, he killed when the law prohibited him from doing so, and he will now go to prison.”