THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 6, 1995 TAG: 9506060258
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
A judge dismissed all charges Monday against the suspect accused of fatally shooting a man inside the Downtown Tunnel during evening rush hour in April.
In a preliminary hearing in General District Court, Judge William H. Oast said there was not enough evidence to send to the grand jury charges of capital murder, abduction, robbery and using a firearm.
The suspect, Shawnta Lamont Ward, 19, of Portsmouth, is being held on $150,000 bond on an unrelated robbery charge. He was arrested April 30, six days after the killing of Efrem D. Garner, 22, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
``The only thing shown by prosecutors . . . was that (Ward) was in the tunnel and (Ward) was inside the car, and that was it,'' said defense attorney Kenneth Melvin.
``They're going to have to come up with a lot more evidence than they came up with today. . . . (The ruling) was absolutely correct.''
Garner, Ward and a third man were traveling through the tunnel toward Portsmouth in a 1992 Lexus when the shooting occurred, according to police.
Garner was shot in the chest and fell halfway out of the stopped car, which had traveled about two-thirds of the way through the tunnel. The Lexus was registered to a Virginia Beach resident and did not appear to be stolen, police and prosecutors said.
Dozens of motorists saw two suspects running out of the tunnel's Portsmouth exit, and video cameras in the tunnel captured images of the fleeing suspects. The tunnel was closed for three hours after the shooting, and traffic was diverted to the Midtown Tunnel.
A witness testified Monday that she saw Ward and another man get out of the back seat of the Lexus and leave the tunnel.
Melvin said, however, that the witness did not see Ward carrying a weapon or anything else. The gun used in the shooting was never found.
Prosecutors still have the option of taking their case directly to the grand jury, despite the judge's ruling. The next grand jury meets July 5.
KEYWORDS: MURDER DISMISSAL by CNB