NORFOLK, Va. – Dashawan Kalvin Medley, 29, was sentenced Friday to 15 active years in prison for robbing a Pollard’s Chicken employee and shooting at a good Samaritan who came to her rescue.
Early in the morning of Feb. 7, 2020, Mr. Medley was armed with a nine-millimeter handgun when he approached the victim, a 49-year employee of Pollard’s Chicken on Tidewater Drive.
The victim was outside and about to open the restaurant for the morning when Mr. Medley ordered her to open the door to the business, or else he would kill her. The victim was unable to open the door quickly enough for Mr. Medley, and he again threatened to kill her if she did not unlock her car instead. Mr. Medley took the victim to her car, where she cried out for help and where Mr. Medley then robbed her of her purse.
When a good Samaritan, an employee of a neighboring business, answered the victim's cries and ran to help her, Mr. Medley ran away. When Mr. Medley realized that the good Samaritan was chasing him, Mr. Medley shot at the good Samaritan at least three times. Fortunately, both the victim and the good Samaritan were not physically hurt. Surveillance video from multiple businesses captured the events, including Mr. Medley’s shooting at the good Samaritan.
Mr. Medley dumped most of the contents of the victim's purse and some of his own clothing in a garage near where he robbed the victim. The owner of that garage called the police, who submitted Mr. Medley's clothes to the Department of Forensic Science for DNA analysis. That evidence contained Mr. Medley’s DNA.
Mr. Medley was arrested in June 2020 in possession of the gun he had used in the robbery and shooting. Mr. Medley has a prior violent felony conviction and was prohibited from possessing a gun. A DNA sample the police collected from Mr. Medley that day matched the DNA on evidence the police had seized before.
Both the victim and the good Samaritan later resigned from their jobs due to the trauma they experienced.
Mr. Medley chose to stand trial without a jury, and on Oct. 11, 2022, Judge Jerrauld C. Jones convicted Mr. Medley of robbery, abduction, and attempted malicious wounding. Following his conviction, Mr. Medley pleaded guilty to two additional counts of possession of a firearm as a convicted violent felon — one count for the February robbery, and the other for his June arrest.
On Friday, Judge Jones sentenced Mr. Medley to a total of 15 active years in prison. The details of Mr. Medley’s sentence include 15 years, with 10 years suspended, for robbery; 20 suspended years for abduction; five suspended years for attempted malicious wounding; and five active years for each count of possession of a firearm as a convicted violent felon. Mr. Medley’s suspended sentences are conditioned on 20 years of good behavior and an indeterminate period of supervised probation. The Court also ordered Mr. Medley to have no contact with the victim or witnesses.
"Dashawan Medley traumatized two innocent people, threatening to kill one and shooting at and endangering the life of the other," said Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi. "He has earned this significant prison sentence. I thank the witnesses who came to court and helped us hold Mr. Medley accountable. My office and I will continue to try, convict, and seek prison sentences for the perpetrators of gun violence."
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Madeline C. Woodruff prosecuted Mr. Medley’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth.
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