Kalah Mangram v. Commonwealth of Virginia

Court of Appeals of Virginia·Decided August 19, 2025·No. 0597242·Unpublished

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Chief Judge Decker, Judge Friedman and Senior Judge Clements UNPUBLISHED

Argued at Richmond, Virginia

KALAH MANGRAM

MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY

v. Record No. 0597-24-2 CHIEF JUDGE MARLA GRAFF DECKER AUGUST 19, 2025

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND Claire G. Cardwell, Judge

Dennis J. McLoughlin, Jr. (McLoughlin Law PLC, on briefs), for appellant.

Timothy J. Huffstutter, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S.

Miyares, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Kalah Mangram appeals his convictions of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding, maliciously shooting at a vehicle, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and two counts of first-degree murder. See Code §§ 18.2-26, -32, -51, -51.2, -154, -286.1. Mangram argues that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury about the danger of relying on uncorroborated accomplice testimony. He also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction for aggravated malicious wounding based on the possibility that the victim of that crime was wounded by crossfire from someone other than him or a co-defendant. Further, Mangram contends that the Commonwealth failed to establish his identity as one of the people involved in the shootings because Baker’s testimony was incredible as a matter of law. For the following reasons, we affirm the convictions.

*

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

BACKGROUND1

This case stems from shootings in a parking lot that ended in the deaths of two innocent bystanders and the wounding of two others. Mangram, Javon Pegram, and Zayon Everett were charged with the shootings and a number of related offenses. They were tried together as co- defendants.2 Around 7:30 p.m. on November 12, 2021, a car drove by the OMG Convenience Store at the edge of a neighborhood in the City of Richmond known as Creighton Court. The occupants of the car began shooting into the parking lot, striking four individuals. Two of the victims died, one of whom was 9 years old and the other of whom was 14. Jacquawn Coe and Trevel Davis were also struck by bullets but survived. Immediately after the attack at the convenience store, gunfire struck the car of Alexia Brooks as she drove nearby with her two children in the car. After firing a barrage of bullets, the assailants fled.

In the early morning hours following the shootings, around 2:00 a.m. on November 13, 2021, Officer Richard Szymanski of the City of Richmond Police Department stopped a car for driving with its headlights off. Mangram was in the car with Pegram, and Szymanski took their photographs.

Several law enforcement officers from the City of Richmond Police Department investigated the shootings involving the convenience store and Brooks’s car. Officer Bryan

1 On review of the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a conviction, the Court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. See Hargrove v. Commonwealth, 77 Va. App. 482, 491 n.1 (2023). However, in reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a proposed jury instruction, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the instruction’s proponent, in this case Mangram. Pena Pinedo v. Commonwealth, 300 Va. 116, 118 (2021). Accordingly, this opinion sets out all of the evidence relevant to the issues before the Court.

2 Pegram and Everett were also convicted and appealed their convictions. See Pegram v.

Commonwealth, No. 0207-24-2 (Va. Ct. App. Aug. 19, 2025), and Everett v. Commonwealth, No. 1508-24-2 (Va. Ct. App. Aug. 19, 2025), both decided this day.

Marceau found the car used by the assailants abandoned in a parking lot in Mosby Court, a nearby area in the City of Richmond. A bullet hole was found in the roof of the car. Forensic analysis identified DNA from Clintoine Baker in the vehicle. Baker was arrested, and he later identified Mangram, Pegram, and Everett as his accomplices in the shootings. An AR-15-style rifle was recovered from Mangram’s brother that was subsequently connected to the shootings through forensic analysis. During the investigation, law enforcement collected cartridge cases, bullets, and bullet fragments from the area, from the bodies of the victims, and from the two cars involved.

At the jury trial, eyewitnesses and surviving victims testified, but they could not identify the shooters. The Commonwealth’s primary evidence identifying the three defendants as the offenders came from Baker. He testified that on November 12, 2021, he, Mangram, Pegram, and Everett left their neighborhood, Mosby Court, intending to find and shoot residents of the rival neighborhood of Creighton Court. He explained that their motivation was simply animosity between the neighborhoods and they did not have any particular individuals in mind. According to Baker, Pegram drove the four of them in a stolen car. They circled the OMG Convenience Store until they spied people leaving the store whom they considered suitable targets. Baker testified that although he and his accomplices opened fire, it was possible that someone on “the street” shot at them and may have fired first. Baker identified the firearms the group used as a 9mm Glock, a .357 or .40, an “AR,” and an “AK.”

Baker described the parking lot in which they left the stolen car after the shootings. He explained that he attempted to quickly clean the car to remove any evidence that would identify him or his accomplices. Baker also explained that they returned to the area where they had started their evening and briefly went into an apartment. According to him, although he kept his gun, Mangram took the other guns to give to “his people.” Baker acknowledged that he had

been charged with the same offenses as Mangram, Pegram, and Everett. Detective Ja’Ontay Wilson testified that he knew the co-defendants from Mosby Court and that the co-defendants and Baker often spent time together.

Other Commonwealth’s evidence included a compilation of video surveillance recordings depicting the assailants’ route before and after the shootings. The video compilation showed the assailants drive away after the offenses, park, and get out of the car. It then showed their walking path to an apartment building and their movements through a stairwell and into an apartment. During Baker’s testimony, he identified himself and the three defendants in the videos. In addition, the compilation included surveillance footage of the parking lot of the convenience store. But not all of the shootings were captured on the recordings due to the placement of the cameras.

Firearms expert Megan Korneke testified about the ballistics evidence, concluding that six firearms were involved in the shootings. Ballistics evidence established that five of the guns were used by the four assailants.3 One of the firearms connected to the stolen car was determined to have fired a bullet recovered from the chest of one of the deceased victims. Ballistics evidence tied a second firearm connected to the car to bullets that struck two other victims, killing one of them. The bullet fragment recovered from Davis, however, was unsuitable for comparison to any of the other ballistics evidence.

After the Commonwealth presented its case-in-chief, Mangram opted not to present any evidence. He asked the trial court to strike the charges. Defense counsel challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a finding of a permanent injury to Coe. Counsel also argued that the Commonwealth failed to prove that he or any of his companions fired the shots that wounded Davis because the evidence permitted a finding that Davis could have been shot by

3 Of these firearms, Baker identified four.

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