A 27-year-old from Chesapeake pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter in connection with the killing of Nathan Evans, a William & Mary University running back, nearly seven years ago after a drug deal went bad.
The Norfolk judge overseeing Kri’shawn Beamon’s plea has yet to decide whether to accept it, and plans to do so at the sentencing for September.
On March 21, 2019, Beamon had contacted Evans, both 19 at the time, to purchase one pound of marijuana.
Evans, and his childhood friend Jack Rettig, drove together to a house on West 43rd Street, where he and Beamon agreed to meet and carry out the deal.
Beamon was waiting with another man who stayed outside as Beamon climbed into the backseat of Evans’ car, a statement of facts says. He asked Evans to show him the marijuana, kept in a duffle bag.
While Beamon was looking at it, he got out of the car and ran away.
Evans ran after him. Rettig, who remained in the passenger seat of the car, heard multiple gunshots.
Evans died as a result of two gunshot wounds to the back, an autopsy found.
Norfolk police found Beamon’s phone and a trail of shell casings at the site of the shooting, the statement of facts says. But the phone’s contents had been erased.
Beamon was arrested days later.
Jonathan Edwards / Staff
The sidewalk on 43rd Street in Norfolk, just west of Colley Avenue, where Nate Evans was found shot to death on March 21, 2019.
Detectives were able to connect the shell casings to a firearm found in Suffolk following a shootout between two cars and traced it back to a purchase Beamon asked his friend to make for him at a pawn shop the same day as the shooting.
Prosecutors and Beamon’s attorney, Andrew Sacks, agreed that Beamon did not pull the trigger.
Keith Bryant was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm after Beamon identified him to police three years after his arrest.
In April 2024, Bryant’s first trial for Evans’ death ended in a hung jury. A year later in his second trial, he was acquitted.
Bryant’s attorneys criticized the testimony of Beamon, who was the prosecution’s star witness for both trials, as well as the police work in the case.
The sentencing cap on a manslaughter charge is six years and seven months. Beamon has already served four years and seven months in Norfolk City Jail before he was released on bond after Bryant was arrested.
Beamon’s plea “comes after a long and tortured seven years in the investigation and prosecution of this case,” said Ramin Fatehi, Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney. Evans’ family was hoping for a trial and disagreed with the plea agreement, he said.
“I have a responsibility to the community to look with a cold eye at the weaknesses in the evidence,” he said. “And to make an offer that ensures a homicide conviction and the safety of the community.”
Beamon’s attorney, Andrew Sacks, said to accept the guilty plea. However, he said”] he sincerely believes this is a fair agreement.
Nori Leybengrub, 757-349-3523, nori.leybengrub@virginiamedia.com