PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A jury of six men and six women will begin deliberating Thursday morning to determine whether one teenager killed another on Sykes Avenue in December 2022.
Tristan Johnson, Jr. is charged with three felonies: first-degree murder, larceny and a gun charge, as well as a misdemeanor gun charge. The judge instructed the jury to also consider second-degree murder.
Defense attorney Von Piersall told the jury in his closing argument that plenty of reasonable doubt exists whether Johnson pulled the trigger that killed Hogg, and pointed instead to co-defendant Pharondus “Rondo” Clemon.
Piersall said none of the gun or DNA evidence directly implicates Johnson, and the Commonwealth’s case rests solely on what Johnson told police detectives.
It was in that statement that Johnson admitted to wearing a gray sweatsuit — a neighbor described him as one of the two people he saw shooting Hogg.
Johnson was in a car with three other teens when they came to supposedly buy a gun from Jesse Hogg. But another defendant in the case — 17-year-old Phirondus “Rondo” Clemon, allegedly told Johnson to take the gun instead of buying it.
Johnson told police that’s when Clemon began firing at Hogg. He died from 10 gunshot wounds.
Hogg’s father and grandparents were ejected from the courtroom during closing arguments after one of the prosecutors was showing the jury pictures of Jesse Hogg.
“I got really upset started crying when they were showing the jury pictures of my deceased son and they basically told me to leave,” the victim’s father, Justin Hogg told WAVY.
At the start of the trial, Johnson faced the more serious charge of aggravated murder. Judge Brenda Spry reduced that charge and struck or reduced three other charges.
“[Judge Spry] keeps dropping the charges, she’s dropped the murder charge down, she’s dropped the conspiracy charge down,” said Hogg’s grandmother, Sandra Brady. “There’s not going to be anything left by the time the jury comes back to deliberate on, because she wants that boy to walk.”
The jury opted to begin deliberations Thursday morning.
