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Prosecutors say wrong person was charged in Norfolk shooting

Posted at 5:44 PM, May 31, 2013
and last updated 2013-05-31 18:06:59-04

Norfolk, Va. - It was the murder that put a stop to high school football games in Norfolk on Friday nights, but now prosecutors say they charged the wrong guy eight months ago.

Nineteen-year-old David White was gunned down outside a Booker T. Washington High School football game last fall. Now eight months later, prosecutors have dropped murder charges against one suspect and charged another.

“Found evidence to prove innocence and I was convinced then as I am now that Mr. Moore had no part in the murder,” says Jon Babineau.

Jon Babineau, William Earl Moore Junior's defense attorney said he found evidence to prove his client was innocent despite police saying an eyewitness saw Moore fire the deadly shot.

Babineau was able to find cell phone records proving Moore was not near the scene of the shooting and he told prosecutors that back in January, but the murder charges against Moore were not dropped until this week.

“Eyewitness testimony always has to be scrutinized,” says Babineau.

Prosecutors are now charging 19 year old Carnell Vaughn in the murder, but when they found him, he was already in jail. Court records show three months after the football game murder, Vaughn was arrested on a dozen other charges including robbery, abduction, and wearing a mask in public.

William Moore, the original murder suspect, will remain behind bars.  He pleaded guilty in a separate armed robbery.