Essonie Naisean Da'Sir Lennon v. Commonwealth of Virginia

Court of Appeals of Virginia·Decided August 11, 2026·No. 0011251·Unpublished

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA Record No. 0011-25-1

ESSONIE NAISEAN DA’SIR LENNON v.

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Malveaux, Friedman and Lorish Argued at Norfolk, Virginia Opinion Issued August 11, 2026*

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS Charles J. Maxfield, Judge Designate

Charles E. Haden for appellant.

Matthew J. Beyrau, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares,1 Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY

JUDGE MARY BENNETT MALVEAUX

A jury convicted Essonie Naisean Da’Sir Lennon of first-degree murder, in violation of Code § 18.2-32, attempted robbery causing death, in violation of Code §§ 18.2-26 and -58, unlawfully shooting at an occupied vehicle, in violation of Code § 18.2-154, two counts of abduction, in violation of Code § 18.2-47, three counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, in violation of Code § 18.2-53.1, two counts of shooting a person in the commission of a felony, in violation of Code § 18.2-53, and possessing a firearm as a juvenile, in violation of Code § 18.2-308.7. On appeal, Lennon argues that the trial court erred in: (1) denying his motion to strike the evidence; (2) admitting a Cellebrite report into evidence; and (3) denying his

*

This opinion is not designated for publication. See Code § 17.1-413(A).

1 Jay C. Jones succeeded Jason S. Miyares as Attorney General on January 17, 2026.

motion to strike a juror for cause. Finding no error, we affirm the convictions, but we vacate the sentencing order in part and remand for resentencing.

BACKGROUND

We recite the facts “in the ‘light most favorable’ to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party in the trial court.” Hammer v. Commonwealth, 74 Va. App. 225, 231 (2022) (quoting Commonwealth v. Cady, 300 Va. 325, 329 (2021)). In doing so, we discard any evidence that conflicts with the Commonwealth’s evidence, and regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all inferences that can be fairly drawn from that evidence. Cady, 300 Va. at 329.

The Offense On the evening of December 23, 2021, Javont “Jay” Berro and Michael Neblett stopped at a Wawa gas station near the Autumn Lakes apartment complex in Newport News because Neblett had “to make a sale of marijuana to somebody.” At the time of the offense, Berro was 17 years old and Neblett was 24 years old. Neblett parked his car in the back parking lot and began texting on his cell phone. Berro saw a profile picture of Lennon on Neblett’s phone screen and a profile name of “Soni.” Berro recognized Lennon’s picture because they had gone to middle school together, and he thought that Neblett and Lennon were messaging each other.

Neblett and Berro waited in the car for approximately 15 minutes before Lennon “walk[ed] up” to the car. Lennon opened the rear driver’s side door and sat down behind Neblett. Lennon left the door open and stuck his left foot outside of the car, which caused a light in the car to illuminate. Berro recognized Lennon as the person entering the car because he had a “very distinguishable look.” Lennon was wearing dark clothing, but no gloves or mask.

While in the back seat of the car, Lennon showed Neblett money, and Neblett showed him some marijuana. When Neblett handed the marijuana to him, Lennon quickly pulled out a

gun and pointed it at Neblett. Lennon told Neblett, “You already know what time it is, bitch,” and then stepped out of the vehicle. With his gun still pointed at Neblett, Lennon walked to the driver’s side window and told Neblett to “[g]ive it up” and “[d]rop it.” Lennon also told Neblett, “[d]on’t reach.” Neblett had a gun in his lap at the time.

After Lennon made these statements, Berro, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, heard the loud “boom” and saw a flash resulting from Lennon shooting Neblett. He then saw Neblett get out of the car and chase Lennon. Neblett fired his gun at Lennon in return but then collapsed. Berro left the car to help Neblett, who was lying on the sidewalk and felt like “dead weight” when Berro tried to help him stand.

Berro then took Neblett’s gun and drove to his parents’ house and told them about the shooting. After officers arrived at Berro’s home, police collected Neblett’s phone and gun. A police detective showed Berro a photo lineup. Berro identified Lennon as the shooter, saying “Yes, sir, A1, 10 out 10, top tier, that’s that boy.”

Another police detective went to the Autumn Lakes apartment complex and found Neblett without a pulse and with two gunshot wounds in his chest. Medics transported Neblett to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner who performed Neblett’s autopsy determined that the cause of death was the gunshot wounds to his chest and right arm. The bullet entered the left side of his chest in a downward direction, went through both lungs and his heart, and exited and lodged in his right arm. The bullet was turned over to the police. The medical examiner confirmed that there was no intervening or earlier cause of death. She also opined that a person shot through the heart typically had approximately 20 seconds of conscious life, followed by 2 to 3 minutes of unconscious life and then death. She further opined that Neblett—who had been shot in the lungs and the heart—would have been able “to speak or move very briefly . . . but it wouldn’t [have] be[en] long.”

Five days after the shooting, during a search of Lennon’s home, police found a loaded .9 millimeter Ruger handgun in a toilet tank. A blue iPhone and another cell phone were found on the floor in a bedroom. Brenda Lennon, Lennon’s mother, identified the blue iPhone found during the search as belonging to her. Lennon had taken her phone when he left home on the night of the shooting, and she had not seen it again until the officers found it at Lennon’s apartment.

Police performed a data extraction on the blue iPhone. Due to security measures in place on the iPhone, only a “partial” amount of data was obtained. A Cellebrite report was also generated from the partial data recovered. The report included some “identifying information,” including an email account for “Sonivito@icloud.com.”

Another police detective later performed a “more complete” data extraction from Neblett’s cell phone. He generated a Cellebrite report which showed messages sent on the night of the shooting between Neblett’s Instagram account and another Instagram account with the username “Soni.gotaim” that had “Sonivito@icloud.com” as the email address associated with the account. “Soni” messaged Neblett at 9:14 p.m. “Yu can come now,” and Neblett replied, “Ight wya ? An u got cash ?” “Soni” stated that he had the cash and they agreed to meet at Wawa. At 9:51 p.m., “Soni” messaged to ask “[w]at car” Neblett was in, and Neblett replied that he was in the “[r]ed” one. After that, there were no additional messages between the accounts.

Police forensic evidence technicians collected additional evidence from the location of the shooting and Lennon’s apartment. In Lennon’s apartment, the technicians found another firearm, a Springfield Armory XDS-9 handgun loaded with an XDS-9 magazine containing four .9-millimeter Luger cartridges. Evidence from the crime scene included four .9-millimeter Luger cartridge casings. A Virginia Department of Forensic Science firearm and toolmark examiner opined that the bullet from Neblett’s body exhibited the same class characteristics as those

produced by the handgun found in the toilet tank, but he “could not identify, nor could [he] eliminate that firearm as having been used to fire th[e] bullet.”

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