Hopewell jury convicts man in 2020 double-murder case
HOPEWELL — The stillness in the courtroom weighed heavily on everyone inside as they waited for the jury of five men and seven women to walk in and take their seats. Moments later, the eerie silence was pierced as the family members of two Hopewell murder victims reacted with joy over the verdict: Guilty on three of five counts, including first- and second-degree murder.
Julian Sharpe's mother bowed her head and fist-pumped the air. Elisa Scott's mother also bowed her head and dabbed at her eyes with a wad of tissues. The 30-month nightmare they had been living through finally had its brightest moments.
On the other side of the courtroom, family and friends of Maurice Eric Mulrain sat stone-faced and silent as the verdicts were revealed. A few feet in front of them, Mulrain, the defendant, stood at the defense table motionless and emotionless, soaking in what Circuit Court Clerk Tammy Ward had just read.
Mulrain had been found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Sharpe, and guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Scott. Both victims were killed Aug. 20, 2020 in front of a house on Central Avenue, him over an alleged sexual encounter with one of the mothers of Mulrain's children, and her because she came to the door to see what the commotion outside was all about.
Both of the victims were 39 years old. Both had been shot multiple times all over their bodies, with some of the bullets even breaking bones. Sharpe died at the scene; Scott died about an hour later at VCU Medical Center in Richmond.
Outside the downtown Hopewell courthouse, the victims' mothers shared their relief at the verdicts.
"I will have peace. Closure, I have to work on inside myself," Carmen Sharpe said. "I will have to learn to live without him."
Inga Scott said she expected the verdict to be what it was. "I was pleased with the whole trial," she said.
She said the experience “should serve as an example” for Hopewell, which has already seen four homicides this year. Scott noted Sharpe’s doggedness in pushing both the investigation and the prosecution of the case.
Mulrain's family and defense counsel left the courthouse without comment.
Mulrain, 32, will be sentenced June 21, and faces up to life in prison for Sharpe’s death and up to 40 years for Scott’s. It will be up to the judge at the sentence hearing to determine if the punishments run concurrently or consecutively.
He also was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.
Co-prosecutor Robert Fierro called the outcome “a good result.”
Closing arguments and spilling emotions
The second day of the trial opened with the defense asking Circuit Judge Carson Saunders to throw out the commonwealth’s entire case that had rested late Thursday afternoon. Defense attorney Mary K. Martin claimed it was the defendant’s cousin, Shaquon Mulrain, who fired the fatal shots, and there was no proof they planned to murder anyone at the Central Avenue location. Co-prosecutor Jordan Grubbs maintained that Maurice Mulrain had gone to Kentucky the day before the shooting to pick up his cousin with the intent to confront and kill Sharpe because he claimed Sharpe "ran a train" — an expression for having sex – with a woman from Petersburg who had a child by Mulrain.
Circuit Court Judge Carson Saunders denied the defense motion.
In her closing argument, Martin told the jury that the prosecution’s case was weak because it relied heavily on testimony from another woman who shared two children with Mulrain, and a neighbor across the street who witnessed the incident through her front window.
Tiffany Walker testified albeit unwillingly that she drove with Mulrain to pick up his cousin and then immediately drove back. She also said that Mulrain had told her it was the cousin, Shaquon, who squeezed the trigger, and she believed him.
The neighbor, Cassandra Vanderkief, testified she saw the two men with Sharpe in the front yard. One of the men shot Sharpe as he turned to walk inside the house, but she did not specify which one of them had the gun.
“The commonwealth cannot wish these facts into evidence and expect you to believe them,” Martin said. Of her client, Martin said, “It’s the wrong person sitting in this chair. Someone needs to be held accountable, but it is not this man.”
Grubbs contended in his arguments that it was Maurice, not Shaquon, who shot Sharpe and Scott because it was Maurice Mulrain who had the beef with Sharpe, not Shaquon. Instead, the cousin was fetched from Kentucky because Maurice Mulrain felt he needed reinforcement when he went to confront Sharpe.
“The reason he went to get Shaquon was to have a weapon,” Grubbs said.
Pertaining to Walker’s testimony the day before, Grubbs said the reason she said she believed what Mulrain told her was because of the kids they share.
“She wants to see him in the best light possible,” he told the jury.
The jury appeared to side with the defense about the actual shooter, acquiting Mulrain of two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The emotion of the closing arguments proved too much for the victims’ mothers. Carmen Sharpe began sobbing uncontrollably during Grubbs’ arguments and had to leave the courtroom for a few minutes. Later, while Martin was pleading her case, Inga Scott became annoyed with the tone and stormed out. She eventually returned.
Shaquon Mulrain, who faces the same charges as his cousin, is being held in a Kentucky prison on drugs and weapons charges unrelated to the Hopewell murders. Authorities in Hopewell and Kentucky are working to determine when he can be brought to Virginia to face trial.
More:A year later, an aching mother fights to find answers to her son's murder
More:Victim's mother: 'I cried with relief tears' when Hopewell Police arrested alleged killer
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell jury finds man guilty in 2020 double-murder
