Shooter who killed 3 UVA football players gets 5 life sentences

The man who confessed to the shooting and murder Virginia Football players Devin Chandler, Lavell Davis Jr. and De’Sean Perry were sentenced to life in prison Friday after a weeklong sentencing hearing in Charlottesville, Virginia, three years ago.

Judge Cheryl Higgins sentenced Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. to five life terms and the maximum allowable sentence of 23 years for the murders of Chandler, Davis and Perry, in addition to the wounding of running back Mike Hollins and track athlete Marlee Morgan.

On November 13, 2022, Jones opened fire on a charter bus after returning to campus following a class field trip to Washington, DC. Last year, Jones pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and five counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Hollins and Morgan were among those who testified at the sentencing hearing, along with family members of the players, Hollins’ mother, the professor who organized the field trip, and others on the bus.

Jones apologized to the families after closing arguments. “I’m so sorry. I caused a lot of pain,” Jones said in the courtroom, according to Civil Rights Now.

In addition to friends and a high school mentor, several members of Jones’ family also testified on his behalf. Civil Rights Now reported that family members testified that Jones suffered from an abusive childhood and mental illness.

After the sentencing, Hollins spoke to reporters outside the courthouse and said, “Knowing that he’s been served time and for the most part, justice has been served, even though no amount of time spent in prison on this earth will bring those lives back, just brings a little bit of peace knowing that the man who committed those crimes will never harm anyone else.”