NORFOLK, Va. — A day after a 19-year-old was charged with murdering 15-year-old Jeyani Upshur outside Mount Trashmore, Norfolk's top prosecutor is disputing how Virginia Beach's police chief characterized the suspect's criminal record in the Mermaid City.
During a Thursday press conference announcing a second-degree murder charge against Markal Cook, 19, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate used a PowerPoint presentation to bullet point the suspect's 2023 convictions for four crimes in Norfolk.
Those crimes were obstructing and resisting arrest with force, trespassing and two counts of having a concealed weapon. According to Neudigate, Cook was given 12 months in prison on each charge, but all but several days were suspended.
"From experience, illegal weapon possession is the precursor to shooting violence," Neudigate said. "Had Mr. Cook been incarcerated on any of these previous charges, I think it is quite likely that we don't have a dead 15-year-old child."
But Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi told 13News Now on Friday that Neudigate's framing of Cook's past convictions missed the mark.
"To correct the record a little bit, Mr. Cook's convictions here in Norfolk weren't four separate offenses on four separate sentencing dates," Fatehi explained to reporter Sarah Hammond. "It was one set of offenses with three misdemeanor charges: the obstruction, the trespassing, and the concealed weapon."
Fatehi explained that at the time, Cook was a high school senior with no prior record and that he got the sentence "that you would typically see just about anywhere in Virginia on those charges."
On the second concealed weapon offense, Fatehi said the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office took it much more seriously than the first.
"We sought a conviction, he pleaded guilty with no plea agreement, we asked for a 30-day sentence and he received an active sentence of less than that," Fatehi said. "We did what we could to confine him and to make sure that he had a criminal record that people could see."
When it comes to sentencing, judges have the final say.
"Obviously, we were interested in more time, but what the judge did was completely reasonable. People are looking for somebody to blame because something bad happened," he said. "Frankly, had the judge given Mr. Cook 12 months to serve, he would've been out."
Fatehi also specified that because Cook's first conviction happened after his second arrest, he couldn't violate the terms of a suspended sentence that he didn't have yet.
"If Mr. Cook is convicted [in Virginia Beach], then that obviously will put him in violation of at least some of his suspended sentences here, so he will face consequences here in Norfolk should be convicted," Fatehi said.
During that Thursday press conference, Neudigate also urged everyone to treat illegal weapon possession as a serious crime.
"Until our nation, our society, our community, our region starts treating illegal weapon possession like the serious offense that it is, we are going to continue to be impacted with gun violence," Neudigate said.
Norfolk's top prosecutor also responded to those remarks.
"For years, I have said that concealed weapon is a leading indicator for either being a homicide defendant or homicide victim," Fatehi said. "I was glad to see that Chief Neudigate agrees with me."
Fatehi went on to say that people are judging the situation based on hindsight and that his office made the right decisions knowing what they knew then.
"We did our jobs," Fatehi said. "We did what we were supposed to do. And you can’t just lock up everybody forever on the off chance that one or another of the hundreds or thousands of people you are dealing with might be the person who goes out and commits a violent crime. That’s just now how the justice system is supposed to work and that’s not justice."
13News Now tried to obtain court documents on Cook's criminal cases in Norfolk, but they're not accessible because even though he was 18, he was still in school at the time.
"I am very glad that the Virginia Beach Police have made an arrest, I have confidence in my colleagues in Virginia Beach that they’ll prosecute the case right," said Fatehi. "We all want to think of some way this could have been prevented, but we have to remember we make the best decisions we can with the information in front of us and we can’t Monday morning quarterback them."
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