Murder Conviction – Lee Gets Twelve Years

Staff Report

LUNENBURG – Jason Lamont Lee, a 20-year-old Kenbridge man, was sentenced Friday in Lunenburg Circuit Court to 12 years in prison on a felony conviction of Second Degree Murder as a result of stabbing to death his best friend, Jamal Williams, on March 17, 2016 in the Town of Kenbridge.

A jury trial was planned for October 17th and 18th on his original charge of First Degree Murder, but a plea agreement was reached between the defendant and the Commonwealth earlier in the week and presented to Circuit Court Judge S. Anderson Nelson, who accepted the agreement.  Lee pled “No Contest” to the charge, but stipulated that the evidence was sufficient to convict him.

The sentence was a total of 40 years with 28 years suspended upon conditions of good behavior for 40 years, supervised probation upon his release for five years, warrantless search and seizures upon his release for five years, and no contact with the Williams family.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Clement said the facts may have satisfied a jury that the defendant premeditated sufficiently for First Degree Murder since he picked up a kitchen knife and walked to the street from his house to confront Williams, but a jury may just as well have determined it was committed in the heat of passion after Williams threatened Lee, hit him in the face on his front porch, and invited him into the street to fight which would have supported a finding of Voluntary Manslaughter with a maximum sentence of ten years.  Clement said he wanted a guarantee of significant suspended time over Lee’s head when he gets out subject to the conditions listed in the agreement.

Clement said the parents of Williams agreed to the disposition and signed off on the agreement, as well as Kenbridge Police Chief Raymond Hite.  The active sentence of 12 years was three years under the low end of the Sentencing Guidelines which were two times higher than usual because of Lee’s convictions as a juvenile for Breaking and Entering and Grand Larceny.

The Stipulation of Evidence signed by the defendant included the following:

Testimony of Sgt. Aaron Peter of the Kenbridge Police Department:

On March 17, 2016 at approximately 2:00 p.m., Sgt. Aaron Peter of the Kenbridge Police Department was dispatched to Center Street because of multiple “hang-up” 911 calls from that location.  He found four males, one lying on the ground bleeding from the chest, one trying to stop the bleeding with his hands, and two looking on.  Sgt. Peter eventually determined that the man on the street was Jamal Williams and that he had suffered a stab wound about an inch below the left nipple.  Rescue squad personnel determined that Williams had died on the scene.

Sgt. Peter determined that Jason Lamont Lee was the offender, but he was no longer at the scene.  The offense had occurred in the street in front of Jason Lee’s home where he lived with his parents.  Lee could not be found.  The knife could not be found as well.

Approximately 5:25 p.m., Sgt. Peter was notified by Chief Raymond Hite that Lee had turned himself in at the Lunenburg Sheriff’s Office.

Interview of Defendant:

Sgt. Peter joined Investigator Michael Landry at the Sheriff’s Office where Lee was interviewed.

After waiving his Miranda Rights, Lee said he and Jamal were best friends.  He said that he and Jamal had been charged on February 26, 2016 with Possession of Marijuana and went to Lunenburg General District Court on March 16, 2016 for advisement of right to counsel. Lee waived his right to counsel and said he intended to plead guilty, but Williams requested a court-appointed attorney and argued with Lee as to why he did not get an attorney.  As a result of the argument, Lee said he left Williams at the courthouse and did not give him a ride back to Kenbridge.  Williams had to walk most of the way home.

Lee said Williams stayed angry and ultimately came to his house on the 17th in the afternoon.  He said he came out on the front porch and that Williams cussed him and hit him in the mouth, causing a small cut inside his upper lip.  Lee said Williams went to the street still calling on him to fight.  Lee said that he (Lee) picked up a kitchen knife off the porch and walked out to the road.  He said Williams swung at him, so he swung around with the knife and stabbed him in the chest. Lee said prior to the stabbing Williams had rolled up the bottom of the shirt, and Lee did not know whether he was taking off his shirt or taking out a gun, (claiming he knew he had a gun in the past), but never saw a weapon at this time on him.

Lee said Williams ran up the street.  Lee said he dropped the knife in the yard of his house, and went inside.  He said he went to his grandmother’s house on the same street.

Defendant’s Different Testimony at Preliminary Hearing:

Lee testified at his preliminary hearing on May 4, 2016. He changed his story, stating under oath that he did not swing and stab Williams, but said and demonstrated that he (Lee) was simply holding the knife with both hands in front of him at stomach level and that Williams swung at him and missed and fell forward on the knife.  On cross-examination, using a ruler provided, Lee said the blade of the knife was about seven and a half inches long, plus the handle beyond that.  He said the entire knife was about 12 inches long.  He said the width of the blade was about one and a half inches.  He said he and Williams were within arm’s length of each other.  He said that Williams “walked right up on the knife” and it went into him. He said he never thrust or pushed the knife forward into Williams.  When asked wouldn’t the knife have fallen out of his hands if Williams had fallen onto it, Lee said no, it didn’t.   He said no one, including Chip Gonzalez, had gotten between the two of them to stop them, but he agreed that Chip had told him to drop the knife and fight like a man.

He said witnesses were next door at the empty house.

When asked if he was scared, why didn’t he just close and lock the door to the house,  Lee said because his younger brothers were in the house and he didn’t want to put them in danger.  When asked how they would be in danger if the door was shut and locked, Lee said he just wanted to get away from the house.

He said he saw all of the police in the street, but he didn’t go to any of them to tell them. He said he and his parents just walked to the car and left to drive to the sheriff’s office even though the police were everywhere, and crime tape up.

An older adult who was next door, said he heard some arguing at Jason’s house.  He went over there and saw Williams in the street and Lee walking up his driveway to Williams with a knife in his hand. (Police measured the distance to be about 41 feet from the house to the street). He said he told Lee to drop the knife and fight like a man if they were going to fight, but Lee did not do so. The witness then got between the two men and kept them apart.  He said he got them to calm down.  When he thought everything was settled down, he turned and started to walk away.  He then heard a noise, turned around and saw that Williams was clutching his chest and running up the street. He saw Williams collapse and went to him and tried to stop the bleeding from the chest wound.

A second witness from Petersburg, who had been in Kenbridge for a number of months and knew both Williams and Lee, said he gave Williams a ride over to the house next door to Lee.  He saw Williams go over to Lee’s house, and then heard some arguing.  He said Lee asked him for a gun.  He said Lee went into his house and come back out with a large kitchen knife.  He said Lee made the comment that he was going to kill him (Williams).

The Petersburg man said Lee went up to Williams, but then a man stepped between them and calmed them down. He said when the man walked away, Williams and Lee confronted each other again and Lee stabbed Williams in the chest.  He said Lee then went back into the house with the knife and that he did not see him afterwards.  When told that Lee said he walked from his house to his grandmother’s house, the Petersburg man said it was not possible that Lee walked that way as they tended to Williams on the ground without being seen.

Autopsy Report:

The Medical Examiner determined that Williams had died from the stab wound that was seven and a half inches deep, passing between the fourth and fifth ribs, and penetrating the heart.

Defense Evidence:

The defense position would be to present evidence and argument that the act of the defendant was self-defense and/or an accidental killing.

Defense planned to present evidence of prior criminal acts and convictions of the victim, particularly the testimony of a victim of a felonious unlawful wounding in 2013 with similar circumstances in which Williams went to the home of the person and confronted him over some issue allegedly involving money owed.  The victim, who ended up with cuts and scratches on the side of his face, said Williams became angry when told to leave, picked up a brick from the border of the sidewalk as the victim walked away, and hit him on the side of his face with it.

Defense also intended to present testimony of threats made by Williams to others that he would “f— him (Lee) up.”

Defense also would have introduced evidence of the toxicology report of Williams that showed the presence of cocaine in his system, (but at 0.24, the Commonwealth would have argued that the small amount would not have caused an effect on Williams at the time of the incident, and must have been consumed at least the day before).

Defense also anticipated attempting to gain testimony from the younger brother of Williams who was at the Lee house at the time of the incident, being a close friend of the Lee brothers.  The younger brother at first told Sgt. Peter that he did not see anything, but then shortly thereafter his mother brought him to Peter and insisted that he tell him what he saw.  He told Peter that he was in the house and that Williams hit Lee on the porch, and then they went to the street where he said Williams swung again.  He did not realize his brother was stabbed as he ran up the street until shortly thereafter. Defense also had a witness who said the younger brother told her the killing was an accident.  When asked about this statement later, the younger brother said he meant it wasn’t supposed to happen like that, that it wasn’t intended from the beginning to be a stabbing.  He still maintained that his view of the stabbing was blocked by the man that attempted to stop the altercation.

Defense also intended to attack the credibility of the Petersburg by his extensive criminal record, and by the fact that he has an appeal of a recent conviction pending in Lunenburg Circuit Court and would allegedly be trying to incur the favor of the Commonwealth by testifying favorably for the state.