PORTSMOUTH, Va. — An Elizabeth City man who was arrested after a police chase in North Carolina last December was found guilty Wednesday in the killing of a Portsmouth man.
At the end of a two-day trial in Portsmouth Circuit Court, a jury found Matthew Lee Meek guilty of voluntary manslaughter, according to a press release from the city's Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
According to prosecutors, evidence they presented during the trial showed Meek got into an altercation with 46-year-old Ronnie Trewren and another person on December 5, 2022. They say Meek shot Trewen, who then drove himself to a nearby hospital and died.
Prosecutors also say Meek disposed of the gun and then went to Elizabeth City. He was taken into custody almost two weeks later after leading deputies in Camden and Pasquotank counties on a high-speed pursuit.
At the time of his arrest, law enforcement said Meek had been driving a truck that hit a Camden County sheriff's deputy as he and a passenger fled the scene of a convenience store theft. The chase ended in neighboring Pasquotank County after Meek lost control of the vehicle while crossing railroad tracks.
The passenger, 21-year-old Johnathan Rosekrans, was taken into custody, while Meek ran away. He was later arrested at a home in Elizabeth City, according to the Pasquotank sheriff's office.
At the time, Meek, Rosekrans and a third person, 38-year-old Erin L. Fitzgerald, were wanted by Portsmouth police as suspects in Trewen's murder.
Prosecutors say Meek admitted to law enforcement that he shot Trewren.
Meek is scheduled to be sentenced on February 5, 2024 at 9 a.m.
