NORFOLK, Va. — The trial for a man charged in connection with the 2023 fatal shooting of a Norfolk State University student was nearing an end Thursday.
After two days of testimony, the Commonwealth rested, and the defense announced it would not be presenting evidence, meaning the case now lies in the hands of the jury.
On Thursday, the Commonwealth’s first witness, a man named Anthony Pugh, said the shooting was ultimately the result of people hanging around his car in an NSU parking lot.
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Trial begins for man charged in connection with fatal shooting of NSU student
Pugh testified he was hanging out with a group of people after the NSU football game, the day of the shooting.
Among that group, he said, was Camari Warren, the man on trial.
Pugh said Warren claimed to have seen people hanging around Pugh’s car.
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The Commonwealth argued Warren called Cameron Brown, a friend of Warren and Pugh, and the suspected shooter in the case, telling Brown to shoot up a nearby car.
That car was the car George was in.
But why that car, specifically, was shot up was not explicitly explained in court Thursday.
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Warren was facing numerous charges, including first-degree murder.
Pugh was not charged, but was facing charges in an unrelated case.
Warren’s attorney argued Thursday Pugh orchestrated the shooting, not Warren, and that Pugh was testifying in exchange for leniency in his other case.
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Pugh denied he had been promised leniency for testifying, but did say getting something in return for testifying would be nice.
Much of Pugh’s testimony Thursday included responses to questions about the NSU security camera video that shows him and a group of people walking through the parking lot where his car was parked shortly before the shooting.
A lot of time was also spent going over phone records between Pugh and Brown, Warren and Brown and the cellphone location data for all three.
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After the Commonwealth rested, Warren’s attorney asked the judge to dismiss two of the three counts against Warren for shooting into the car and two of the three counts for conspiracy to commit the shooting.
The Commonwealth did not argue against that, so the judge agreed. The Commonwealth did, however, argue against Warren’s attorney’s request to reduce his first-degree murder charge to second-degree murder.
Warren’s attorney argued the shooting was not premeditated. The Commonwealth pointed to a nearly six-minute phone call Warren had with Brown that lasted up until the shooting as evidence the shooting was, in fact, premeditated.
The judge agreed and denied the request to reduce the first-degree murder charge.
As of Thursday, jury deliberation was expected to begin Friday.