The trial for the first of two suspects accused of a 2010 deadly robbery began Tuesday.
Prosecutors say Alex Jenkins wasn’t the shooter, but since he was involved in the robbery he is just as responsible.
December 19, 2010. That’s when two suspects held up the clerk at the Junior Market convenience store on South Lynnhaven Road.
The clerk who was closing up for the night told the jury two men wearing all black, with their faces covered, walked into the store with guns. The suspects shoved a gun in her face and demanded money.
At one point, another customer walked in, and he says they took him to a back room and threw him down on the floor.
The clerk told the court the suspects wanted her to open the safe and show them the surveillance video.
None of which she said she knew how to do. She told the jury she had only been on the job for two weeks.
“I just wanted to go home to my daughter,” she said to jury.
A few minutes later, 41-year-old Jeannie Murphy walked in to buy beer. When she saw what was happening she tried to run out of the store, but was shot twice in the back. She died from her injuries.
The case went cold for several years until a big break in 2014. That’s when Jenkins, who was serving time for another robbery at a prison in the western part of the state, asked to talk to guards.
He told them he knew something about a robbery and murder in Virginia Beach. He said he was there along with his friend Tramonte Hines. He told prison guards Hines was the one who pulled the trigger.
Defense attorneys told the jury Jenkins only told the guards because he thought it would help reduce his sentence on the other robbery charge. Instead, he was charged with robbery and murder for his part in the Junior Market crime.
The trial continues Wednesday. Hines is already serving more than 80 years for another robbery back in 2010. He will soon stand trial for Murphy’s murder.
