Pair convicted for murder of 1-year-old girl in Chesapeake

Belinda Tillmon told a jury in Chesapeake Circuit Court about a child named Ny-Asia, a little girl whose life ended at the age of 1.

"She was a precious little girl," Tillmon said. "Anybody who seen her would love her to death. She brought joy to everybody."

She took the stand Thursday hoping to persuade the jury to give a stiff sentence to the men convicted of killing her daughter.

Earlier in the day, the jury found Shawn Sir Charles Ward and Julian "Ramel" Barksdale guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Ny-Asia, who was killed Nov. 10 during a South Norfolk home invasion. The jury also found Ward, 22, and Barksdale, 20, guilty of the malicious woundings of two others in the house.

The jury deliberated on a sentence for less than three hours before court adjourned. The group will resume this morning. Judge Randy Smith will formally sentence the two men at a later date.

Ward and Barksdale face a minimum of 55 years in prison.

The jury deliberated for two days before finding both men guilty of second-degree murder, burglary while armed, two counts of malicious wounding, attempted murder, wearing a mask in public and four felonies involving the use of a firearm in the commission of crimes. The two had been charged with first-degree murder, but the jury opted for the lesser charge.

The baby was killed when as many as three masked gunmen forced their way into a first-floor apartment in the 3700 block of Bainbridge Blvd. and opened fire. The third person has not been identified or arrested.

The baby's grandmother Mary Arnold was shot in the left hand. The baby's uncle Bernard Person was shot in the arm.

Person caused the intruders to scatter that Saturday afternoon when he returned fire after retrieving his mother's gun. A motive for the home invasion remains unclear.

Before the six-man, six-woman jury returned to the deliberation room Thursday afternoon to determine a sentence, it heard from the victims in the home invasion. Mary Arnold testified that she lost a grandchild, job, home and full use of her hand because of the incident.

"It's been a hard life change for all of us," she said. "It's been a nightmare. I still don't feel safe in my home."

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney D. J. Hansen showed the jury documents about both defendants' criminal histories, but he did not go into detail.

"These men are no strangers to the criminal justice system" he told the jury.

Ward and Barksdale, cousins, cried when their family members took the witness stand to testify on their behalf. Ward's mother told the jury: "He's not capable of doing this."