Man Sentenced to 4 Years For Carjacking, Maliciously Wounding Norfolk Woman
NORFOLK, Va. – Jon’mir Amontae Lawton, 20, was sentenced in Norfolk Circuit Court on Friday to four years in prison for being part of a group of people who carjacked a woman and severely injured her in the process last summer.
On the evening of Aug. 24, 2022, the woman left her vehicle running while picking up her children from a residence on Marlfield Drive. Before she could enter the residence, she noticed another vehicle containing multiple individuals pull up next to hers on the narrow street. Thinking she needed to move her vehicle for the other car to go around, she started to return to her car. However, one of the individuals from the other car got into the victim’s vehicle and began to drive it away. The victim got a hold of one of her door handles and was dragged as the individual pulled off at a high rate of speed. She suffered a concussion and numerous broken teeth, among other injuries, and she lost her purse, wallet, and credit cards as a result of the carjacking.
While recovering at the hospital, the victim was able to show Norfolk Police detectives that unauthorized credit card transactions had been made following the carjacking. Video surveillance footage from a convenience store listed in the transaction history showed four individuals exiting the other vehicle from the carjacking. Using that footage and information from social media, detectives were able to identify Mr. Lawton as one of the defendants. A week after the carjacking, Norfolk Police located and recovered the victim’s vehicle from an apartment complex where Mr. Lawton had been staying with a friend.
On July 31, Mr. Lawton pleaded guilty to carjacking and malicious wounding, and Judge Tasha D. Scott accepted his plea agreement with a maximum active sentence of five years and two months, per the high-end suggestion of Mr. Lawton’s sentencing guidelines.
On Friday, Judge Scott sentenced Mr. Lawton to 20 years in prison, with 16 years suspended on the conditions that Mr. Lawton cannot contact the victim and that he complete 10 years of uniform good behavior and three years of supervised probation.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Madeline C. Woodruff prosecuted Mr. Lawton’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Detective Patrick A. Garvey led the investigation.
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