Defendants plead guilty to first-degree murder for 2023 Hopewell shooting

HOPEWELL, Va. (WRIC) — The two men on trial for the shooting death of 28-year-old William Jamal Claiborne in Hopewell have pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges over a year after the shooting took place.

According to the Hopewell Police Department, 21-year-old Jamari Taylor of Hopewell and 20-year-old Kristopher Lorenzo Miller of Chesterfield County pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Wednesday, Sept. 12 in connection to the June 24, 2023, shooting of Claiborne .

Taylor has been sentenced to 50 years in state prison, Miller has not yet been sentenced.

At around 6:34 p.m., Hopewell City Police officers responded to the 1000 block of Langston Park Drive for a report of a shooting. When they got there, they found Claiborne , who had been struck by a bullet that entered his right arm and went into his chest.

Claiborne was taken to Chippenham Hospital in Richmond, where he was pronounced dead.

Police arrested Taylor and Miller days later and initially charged them with second-degree murder and using a firearm while committing a felony, but the charges were later upgraded to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The statuses of the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charges are unknown at this time.

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