ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. β Tuesday was day two of the sentencing hearing for the former University of Virginia student who opened fire on a charter bus as it returned to campus from a field trip in 2022.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. killed UVA football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D'Sean Perry and injured two others. He pleaded guilty in 2024.
Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence while the defense is asking for accountability with compassion.
Two more witnesses took the stand for prosecutors Tuesday morning, including Marlee Morgan, one of the other two people on the bus who were shot by Jones.
Morgan was in the theater class that went on the field trip but had started talking to Jones a week before the shooting as they were partnered together in another class.
She remembers sitting next to Davis as the bus returned to campus and heard a gunshot come from the seats in front of them, where Jones was sitting.
She remembers seeing Davis grab his ears and heard Jones swear at him.
"The next thing I remember was laying on top of another student in the bus and we would tap each other each time we heard more gunshots to make sure the other was still alive," Morgan said.
She said she didn't realize she had been shot until she was getting off the bus and had to walk past some of those who had been killed.
She described the immense trauma this has left on her life and cried as she talked about the impact on her family.
Morgan finished by saying that everyone has a level of pain in their life, and they have to make choices every day about how to respond to that pain and to not use it as an excuse to cause harm. She said she hoped that Jones would "allow Jesus to give him a new heart."
Testimony concluded before noon Tuesday, with more witnesses expected to be called on Wednesday.
Monday, the court heard from investigators, survivors and victims' families about that night and the lasting trauma.
Sentencing is scheduled to last until Friday.
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