Man Sentenced to 22 ½ Years After Robbing Men at Gunpoint During 2023 Home Invasion

NORFOLK, Va. — James Davis Kennedy, 41, was sentenced on Friday to serve 22 years and six months in prison after a jury found him guilty of robbing two men at gunpoint inside a Campostella Heights home in 2023, and after he pleaded guilty to possessing fentanyl when he was arrested following the robbery.

On July 17, 2023, Mr. Kennedy and a co-conspirator, who remains unidentified, went to the victims’ house. Mr. Kennedy’s co-conspirator was wearing a hard hat and pretending to be utility worker, and both men were armed with guns. Mr. Kennedy’s co-conspirator knocked on the front door while Mr. Kennedy went to the back of the house. When the first victim answered the door, the co-conspirator asked about a natural gas leak. The victim told the co-conspirator that he had recently smelled gas, so the victim allowed him inside. The co-conspirator then asked the victim to open his back door, and when the victim did, Mr. Kennedy emerged with his face covered and pointed a gun at the victim.

Inside, Mr. Kennedy ordered the victim to lay on the kitchen floor while the co-conspirator looked around the rest of the house. The second victim was sleeping inside a bedroom and was awakened by the co-conspirator pointing a gun in his face. The co-conspirator then led the second victim out of the room and ordered him onto the floor of the kitchen as well. The first victim had a dog that was barking at the intruders and managed to convince the intruders to let him take the dog out to the back to calm it. Once outside, the victim ran around to the front of the house, saw the car that the intruders had left running on the street, got into the car, and drove around the corner to call police.

While inside the house, Mr. Kennedy and his co-conspirator stole thousands in cash, a handgun, and other valuables they could find. After the first victim took their car, both men ran away from the house. In the process, one of them left a gun in the victims’ living room. The second victim picked up the gun and ran out of the house behind the intruders. Mr. Kennedy and his co-conspirator saw the second victim and began shooting at him, and the victim returned fire. No one was injured.

The first victim was able to identify Mr. Kennedy to Norfolk Police because he recognized Mr. Kennedy, and the car in which he drove off had Mr. Kennedy’s identifying information and cell phone inside. The car was registered to Mr. Kennedy’s relative. Norfolk Police took Mr. Kennedy into custody on Aug. 3, 2023, at that relative’s home. Mr. Kennedy is also a previously convicted felon and was found in possession of fentanyl when he was arrested.

In November 2023, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office secured direct indictments from a grand jury against Mr. Kennedy for armed robbery, conspiring to commit armed robbery, using a firearm in the commission of robbery, two counts of abduction, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possessing a Schedule II drug.

Mr. Kennedy pleaded not guilty to the robbery-related charges, and he requested to be tried by a jury. On Oct. 16, 2024, the jury found Mr. Kennedy guilty as charged of armed robbery, conspiring to commit armed robbery, using a firearm in the commission of robbery, and two counts of abduction. Mr. Kennedy later pleaded guilty to the drug possession charge.

Judge Mary Jane Hall, who presided over the jury trial, sentenced Mr. Kennedy on Friday to serve 22 years and six months in prison and suspended another 32 years and six months on the conditions that Mr. Kennedy complete 10 years of uniform good behavior and an indeterminate period of supervised probation following his release. Given the length of Mr. Kennedy’s sentence, the Commonwealth withdrew the final pending charge of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

“Home-invasion robberies are some of the most dangerous and frightening crimes anyone could commit,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “These offenses are violent in nature and carry the risk of injury or death for the victims and the wrongdoers alike. I am proud of the work of the Norfolk Police and of my trial team in taking this difficult case to a jury and to the victims for their willingness to come to court and help us secure these convictions. This is exactly the kind of case on which I focus my office’s resources: dangerous and violent crimes that put people’s lives in the balance.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Shavaughn N. Banks prosecuted Mr. Kennedy’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Stephen P. West led the investigation.

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