UVA postpones release of shooting report
Days after the Nov. 13, 2022, shooting on Grounds, University leaders sought an independent review of what happened and how it was handled. President James E. Ryan (Law class of ’92) and then-Rector Whittington W. Clement (Col class of ’70, Law class of ’74) formally asked the Virginia attorney general to appoint special counsel.
Jason S. Miyares, the state AG, granted the request. Last December, he appointed two teams—two partners from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles to review the events leading up to the shooting and Vinson & Elkins partner G. Zachary Terwilliger (Col class of ’03) in Washington, D.C., a former Virginia U.S. attorney, to review related law enforcement issues.
Miyares announced on Oct. 20 they had completed their respective reviews, which he sent on to the University. Because his office serves as UVA’s lawyer, he said, “Attorney-client ethical rules prohibit the Office of the Attorney General from sharing the report with the public.”
The University has also asserted attorney-client privilege in response to media requests for copies of the reports. UVA has continued to express the intent to share the review with the community in a redacted form at some later point.
Last month, University leaders announced they would delay release until after conclusion of the criminal proceedings against the student charged in the shooting. “We recognize that many people, including the families of those who were killed or injured that night, are awaiting more information as they continue to grieve and recover from the incalculable loss they experienced. We are committed to providing it as soon as we can be sure that doing so will not interfere in any way with the criminal proceeding,” Ryan said.
Earlier in the fall, Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney James M. Hingeley (Law class of ’76) upgraded the felony charges against Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. (Col class of ’22) from second-degree murder to aggravated murder, Virginia’s maximum category since it eliminated the death penalty in 2021. It includes elements of willfulness and premeditation and, in his case, the aggravating factor of allegedly having committed multiple murders in a single incident. Aggravated murder carries the mandatory minimum sentence of life without parole regardless of conviction or guilty plea.
Shortly afterward, Doug Ramseur, a veteran death-penalty lawyer, joined the defense team as appointed co-counsel.
The escalation to aggravated murder essentially reset the clock on the criminal proceedings, substantially extended the case’s estimated timeline and reduced the prospects for a plea deal, according to observer Matthew Engle, an experienced death-penalty lawyer and former director of the UVA Law School’s Innocence Project.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for February 5.
