NORFOLK, Va. — After the jury couldn't come to a unanimous decision about Javon Doyle's first-degree and attempted second-degree murder charges Monday, a judge declared a mistrial in the case.
They'd been debating a verdict since Friday. Around 12:30 p.m. Monday, the judge got word that two jurors were not in agreement with the others, and those two jurors would certainly not change their votes.
He asked them to further deliberate, but the jury couldn't find an agreement.
Reporter Allison Bazzle, who was in the courtroom for the decision, said the commonwealth is planning to retry the case as soon as possible.
Chris Cummings' family attended the trial. His father said he hoped for a better outcome.
“We can’t just let this go without being resolved," said James Cummings. "My son was killed over 11 years ago and we need some resolution, one way or another."
Cummings said he also brought a piece of his son with him to the courthouse.
“I wore the shoes that we bought for him to go with his tuxedo for his prom with hopes that it would bring a little of him into the courtroom," James said.
Doyle took the stand on Aug. 24, more than 10 years after Old Dominion University student Chris Cummings was killed. Doyle is accused of pulling the trigger back in 2011.
Throughout the last week, investigators from the case, Doyle's former cellmate, Cummings' neighbors, father, and roommate (who was also shot) testified before jurors.
Neighbors said they heard gunshots after 4 a.m. on June 10. They looked outside and saw Jake Carey, Cummings' roommate, lying in a pool of blood in the driveway.
They also said they saw a man running down the street, but their testimony didn't agree on what that man was wearing.
One of them said Doyle's facial features looked similar to the man he saw at the crime scene.
Defense attorneys argued that these witnesses only got a police lineup of suspects a year after a shooting, so their memories might not have been clear. A neighbor did point out Doyle in the lineup.
Carey, Cummings' roommate, said he was home when the front door was kicked down, and he heard multiple footsteps go upstairs to his friend's room before a gunshot rang out.
He waited until things were quiet to leave his bedroom, and when he saw Cummings at the bottom of the stairs, not moving, he got closer. That's when someone shot Carey in the neck, hand, shoulder and back.
He blacked out but survived. He needed multiple surgeries to recover.
Doyle was one of several people arrested in suspicion of this murder. In 2021, Norfolk police also arrested Kwame Edwards, Ahmad Watson, and Rashad Dooley.
Edwards and Watson later had their charges dismissed.