NORFOLK, Va. — Kenneth Leon Yates, 45, was sentenced on Friday to serve 26 years in prison following a 2022 murder at a gas station.
Yates pleaded guilty in June to the second-degree murder of Todd Lawton Wilson, using a firearm in the commission of Wilson’s murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and grand larceny of Wilson’s automobile following the shooting.
After 11 p.m. on July 9, 2022, Wilson parked his gray Jeep Patriot at a gas pump at the Tinee Giant convenience store and Citgo gas station at 2701 E. Ocean View Ave., according to a press release from the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Moments later, a white SUV pulled into the gas station next to Wilson’s Jeep.
Yates got out of the white SUV and got into the front passenger seat of Wilson’s Jeep. Yates then shot Wilson five times at close range in his torso, head, and leg. After mortally wounding Wilson, Yates pushed him out of the vehicle, got into the driver’s seat, and drove off. Wilson died at the scene.
The entire incident was captured on video by security cameras, and witnesses were able to identify Yates to Norfolk Police investigators because he had visited the store earlier in the night and had given his phone number to an individual with whom he had been flirting.
At some point during the night, Yates was in a white SUV that he crashed into a fence at a church in Portsmouth. The following morning, Portsmouth Police officers located Yates and detained him on suspicion that he had been driving under the influence. After Yates gave them permission to search his car, officers found a handgun in the glove box. Forensic tests later confirmed this gun to be the murder weapon. On July 13, 2022, Norfolk Police located Wilson’s Jeep parked in the Poplar Halls area with several cartridge casings inside matching Yates’ handgun.
Yates’ cell phone GPS data corroborated Yates’ presence at the Ocean View gas station, in Portsmouth where he was located with the murder weapon, and in Poplar Halls where Wilson’s vehicle was recovered. Yates’ cell phone data also contained text messages in which Yates demanded that another individual bring him bullets hours before the shooting as well as multiple phone calls between him and Wilson in the minutes leading up to the shooting.
Yates pleaded guilty on June 10 to second-degree murder, using a firearm in the commission of murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and grand larceny of an automobile and agreed to serve a maximum active sentence of 29 years in prison; the Commonwealth agreed to dismiss Yates’ first-degree murder charge. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted Yates’ plea agreement.
On Friday, LeCruise sentenced Yates to serve 26 years in prison and suspended another 24 years on the conditions that Yates complete 10 years of good behavior and supervised probation following his release and have no contact with the victim’s family during that time.
“Surveillance video, witness cooperation, excellent police work by the Norfolk and Portsmouth Police Departments, and Mr. Yates’ own carelessness all contributed to a case so strong that Mr. Yates chose to plead guilty rather than to go to trial,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Mr. Yates will now be accountable for murdering Mr. Wilson and will serve a good portion of the rest of his life in prison. Unfortunately, no sentence will bring Mr. Wilson back to his family. I mourn for them and wish them peace as they move forward with their lives.”
