Zayon Lamont Everett v. Commonwealth of Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedAugust 19, 2025
Docket1508242
StatusUnpublished

This text of Zayon Lamont Everett v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Zayon Lamont Everett v. Commonwealth of Virginia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zayon Lamont Everett v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (Va. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Chief Judge Decker, Judge Friedman and Senior Judge Clements UNPUBLISHED

Argued at Richmond, Virginia

ZAYON LAMONT EVERETT MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY v. Record No. 1508-24-2 CHIEF JUDGE MARLA GRAFF DECKER AUGUST 19, 2025 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

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

Gregory R. Sheldon (BainSheldon, PLC, on brief), for appellant.

Timothy J. Huffstutter, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Zayon Lamont Everett 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. He argues that the trial court erred by not instructing

the jury about the danger of relying on uncorroborated accomplice testimony. Everett also

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. Everett, Javon Pegram, and Kalah Mangram 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. Pegram and Mangram were in the car, 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, Everett. 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 Mangram were also convicted and appealed their convictions. See Pegram v. Commonwealth, No. 0207-24-2 (Va. Ct. App. Aug. 19, 2025), and Mangram v. Commonwealth, No. 0597-24-2 (Va. Ct. App. Aug. 19, 2025), both decided this day. -2- 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 Everett, Pegram, and Mangram 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, Everett, Pegram, and

Mangram 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

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 Everett, Pegram, and Mangram. Detective Ja’Ontay

-3- 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. It established that

the assailants used five firearms.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.

After the Commonwealth presented its case-in-chief, Everett 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

suggested that the evidence was insufficient to establish his identity as an assailant because

Baker’s testimony was inherently incredible as a matter of law. The trial court granted the

motion to strike in part, reducing the charge of aggravated malicious wounding of Coe to

malicious wounding. It denied the motion as to the other charges.

3 Of these firearms, Baker identified four. -4- Before jury deliberations began, defense counsel asked the trial court to instruct the jury

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