VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach jury has convicted a man in the retrial of a 2016 murder case.
Jacquan Wilson was found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, and use of a firearm stemming from the killing of 18-year-old Bryant Cueto outside of a Virginia Beach Applebee's in 2016.
The trial originally came before a judge in 2019, and attorneys were in the final stages of starting their closing arguments when the judge called a mistrial.
According to court documents, the judge declared a mistrial after someone broke into several of the jurors' cars outside of the Virginia Beach courthouse, and prosecutors believed those burglaries could intimidate the jurors.
Virginia Beach police never named a person responsible and the case took several more years to move forward.
Wilson represented himself during his retrial.
During the new 3-day trial, an eyewitness told the jury that he had picked up the Cueto in his car and drove out to an Applebee's on General Booth Boulevard. There, Cueto unveiled a bag of Xanax that he planned to sell and made several phone calls.
According to the witness' testimony, a sale never went through. The witness identified Wilson as the person who opened up the backseat of his car, pulled out his gun, and threatened Cueto for the pills.
Prosecutors then brought forth several expert witnesses, testifying to evidence that points to Wilson as the perpetrator.
Virginia Beach detectives recounted their version of events of the May 2016 night, a medical examiner detailed Cueto's autopsy and how he died of a single gunshot wound, and a forensic analyst lifted 18 fingerprints from the crime scene that included several of Wilson's prints.
Wilson declined to cross-examine many of the expert witnesses.
Wilson will be formally sentenced on June 21.