CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) – The Chesapeake jury deliberating the fate of a Norfolk police officer accused of voluntary manslaughter could not agree on a verdict.
Jurors stayed late Thursday evening to deliberate, but ultimately the trial ended in a hung jury.
Edmund Hoyt has claimed self-defense in this case. He is accused of killing Kelvin White during a confrontation in January 2020 involving Hoyt’s wife.
Hoyt was off-duty at the time when he received a call from his wife telling him “a man just stabbed me in the face.” His wife said on the stand during trial that White “threatened” to stab her in the face. Her husband showed up where she was, near the Food Lion Bainbridge Boulevard in Chesapeake. He was wearing plain clothes, with a paddle holster holding his personal firearm.
When he took the stand, Hoyt said White had a knife in his hand and started coming towards him and that it all happened “very very quickly.” While recalling this he started tearing up and said he felt White was going to end his life.
Still choked up, Hoyt said he took his first shot, but it had no effect as White had a backpack on his chest, with books in it. He fired additional shots.
The deputy commonwealth’s attorney said it was Hoyt’s duty to wait for police.
The jury began deliberations Wednesday afternoon and resumed Thursday morning. Usually, what’s happening in the deliberation room is not disclosed, but WAVY learned there were heated debates and that the jury could not reach an outcome.
10 On your Side’s Lauryn Moss reports the next court date is set for September 8.
This is breaking news.