VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Eight months after a Virginia Beach police officer shot and killed Donovon Lynch at the Oceanfront – the commonwealth’s attorney says a grand jury found no probable cause to charge officer Solomon Simmons in Lynch’s death.
Legal Analyst Ed Booth said the grand jury’s decision would have involved a lot of work reviewing all the evidence. Besides hearing witness testimony, members also reviewed reports and audio and visual recordings.
“There were a number of people that they’ve talked to, a number of different sources of evidence, the purpose of a grand jury of course being to among other things investigate whether a crime has occurred and if so return what’s called a true bill,” Booth said.
“Given the length and quantity of things that were considered, there was a sufficient amount of time, or substantial amount of time in any event, to put into this.”
Simmons shot Lynch on March 26 near 20th Street and Pacific Avenue. The shooting made national headlines and attracted a lot of scrutiny.
Recording artist Pharrell identified Lynch as his cousin and said he wasn’t happy with the way the city had handled the situation.
Booth said the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office would want the public to have faith in the process and the news conference was its way of showing the public how a decision was reached.
“As a prosecutor, as an elected Commonwealth’s Attorney, they want confidence in the decisions that they make and that whatever they’re doing is going to be based on facts and the law as applied, regardless of who’s involved," Booth said.
“Certainly I think common sense tells us all that when there’s a lot of public scrutiny and a lot of attention on a case, particularly a complicated case like this one, there’s going to be resources that are appropriately... devoted to that sort of investigation."
