VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A man accused of killing a 65-year-old woman at a Harris Teeter gas station in Haygood Shopping Center on Dec. 13, 2021 is on trial.
Annie Smith was shot and killed as her husband, Steven Smith, pumped gas.
Monday was the first day of the retrial in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.
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Darrius White faces an aggravated murder charge as well as charges of possessing a firearm by a felon, four robbery charges and three counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Darrius White had a trial in May, but Judge Jim Lewis declared a mistrial. A spokesperson for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office had said that based upon a reference from a witness, the judge determined that a mistrial was appropriate.
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White’s brother, Michael White, is also charged with murder. He pleaded guilty in June. The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office says he is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, Dec. 14.
Both sides say Darrius White is the shooter, but his attorney Kristin Paulding argues that aggravated murder requires a willful, deliberate, pre-meditated crime, and she says that is not the case here. She also told the jury that her client told detectives “I had no intention of killing her.”
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office says if convicted of aggravated murder, it is automatically life without parole.
The first witness to testify on Monday was Steven Smith. He and his wife had been married for 46 years. He kept a calm demeanor and narrated what happened that night, as jurors watched surveillance video from Harris Teeter.
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Prosecutors say Mr. Smith was filling up their car with gas when Michael White approached Smith and robbed him. However, after that, Darrius White came to their car, and according to prosecutors, he saw Annie Smith had retrieved a gun they kept inside their car. Then, they say, Darrius White shot her three times in the chest.
Steven Smith said in court that he rushed to his wife, “I touched her cheek… there was nothing. She was gone.”
Police say the brothers were driving a car that had recently been reported as stolen.
This trial, going before the same judge, is expected to take two to three days. The jurors plus alternates consist of eight women and six men.
Stay with News 3 for updates.
