NORFOLK — A man accused of killing a William & Mary football player during a botched drug deal six years ago was acquitted Friday of all charges.

It was the second time in less than a year that Keith Bryant Jr. was tried for the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Nate Evans. His first trial ended in April with a hung jury.

The panel in that case told the court it was hopelessly deadlocked at 7-5, with the majority favoring acquittal. This time, a different panel deliberated close to 2½ hours before finding Bryant not guilty of second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a felony.

On Friday, Bryant’s defense questioned prosecutors’ decision to continue trying the case despite the fact that their star witness had repeatedly been caught telling lies, as well as the multiple times the court chastised the lead police detective in the case for withholding evidence from them.

“Here in Norfolk, we are not afraid to try hard cases,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said in a statement after the jury’s verdict. “We do it every day, because we owe victims and the accused their day in court. While we wish the result had been different, we respect the process and the jury’s verdict.”

Defense attorney Mario Lorello, however, challenged Fatehi’s claims.

“The role of a prosecutor is to seek justice, not convictions,” Lorello said. “Instead, the commonwealth knowingly presented the testimony of someone they knew to have repeatedly lied.”

Evans was killed shortly before midnight on March 21, 2019, outside a house party near Old Dominion University.

James Agnew/Special to the Daily PressNate Evans, seen during a 2017 game, was shot and killed March 21, 2019, in Norfolk. The 19-year-old was a a running back on the William & Mary football team.

According to testimony this week, the sophomore running back had arranged to meet Kri’Shawn Beamon there to sell him a one-pound bag of marijuana. When Evans and a friend pulled up in their car, Beamon climbed into the backseat, grabbed the marijuana, then took off running without paying, according to prosecutors. Evans ran after him and was shot twice.

Beamon’s phone was found at the scene and he was charged with murdering Evans days later. It wasn’t until Beamon had spent three years in jail awaiting trial that he reached out to police and told them it was actually his longtime friend, Bryant, who’d shot Evans.

Bryant was then charged with the murder and ordered held without bond in the city jail. Beamon, who still remains charged in the case, was released on bond after that. His trial is still pending.

Lorello told the jury in his closing argument that Beamon was simply looking for a “get out of jail card” when he put the blame on Bryant.

Among the lies that Lorello said Beamon had told was his claim that he didn’t know where the murder weapon came from. A close friend of Beamon’s who bought the gun from a pawn shop the day of the shooting testified for the defense that it was Beamon who asked him to buy it because Beamon, then 19, was too young to purchase it.

While on the witness stand, Beamon repeatedly responded to defense questions with, “No comment,” prompting Circuit Judge Robert B. Rigney to order him to answer the questions.

“This isn’t a press conference. This is a murder trial,” Lorello told jurors. “Is this (Beamon’s testimony) what you’re going to rely on to convict someone of second-degree murder?”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Phil Bailey, however, argued it didn’t make sense for Beamon to put the blame on a close friend if the friend wasn’t involved, especially when there were others he easily could have pointed the finger at.

“Why would he offer up his childhood friend in this way?” Bailey asked. “He’s known him since he was 10. Why offer that guy up? Because its true.”

Among the unusual instructions Rigney gave to jurors before they began deliberating was one in which he “cautioned” them from convicting someone based on uncorroborated evidence from a witness, which was in reference to Beamon. Another informed jurors that police had violated Bryant’s rights by failing to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

Originally Published: March 21, 2025 at 7:18 PM EDT