CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Antonio Lee Sutton will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his girlfriend inside her home in January 2021.
Chesapeake Circuit Court Judge Rufus A. Banks Jr. handed Sutton, 41, one life sentence and 30 additional years of active prison time at a sentencing hearing on Nov. 3, according to court records.
A jury convicted Sutton of six felony counts in April, including first-degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, abduction, and three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The shooting killed 37-year-old Iaisha T. James and injured her adult daughter.
Sutton served nearly two decades in state prison for a 2003 conviction in Virginia Beach on armed robbery, carjacking, abduction and conspiracy charges. He was released from incarceration in June 2020 and reported to the Chesapeake Probation and Parole Office for supervised release, according to a Virginia Department of Corrections official.
Fewer than seven months later, Chesapeake police arrested him for the deadly double shooting at a home in the 600 block of Lafayette Avenue, which sits just off Berkley Avenue in the Campostella area of the city.
Matthew R. Hamel, the Commonwealth's Attorney for Chesapeake, provided a brief statement to News 3 following Sutton's sentencing. “Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Amar Meda and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Meghan Powell did an excellent job in conjunction with the Chesapeake Police Department in seeking justice for Ms. James and her daughter," Hamel said.
Lakishi Stevenson, the public defender who represented Sutton in the case, declined to comment when reached by News 3.
Sutton is currently being held at Virginia Beach Correctional Center awaiting a probation revocation hearing, which is currently scheduled for November 22.
