PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Raymond Gore, 58, has been found not guilty on all charges related to a 2022 Portsmouth quadruple murder on Friday.
Gore was facing four counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of Ashley Merricks, Oleisha Mears, Georgio Lee and Samuel Jones.
This is the second time Gore faced charges for these murders. In February 2023, the original charges were dismissed.
News
Charges dismissed against man accused in Portsmouth quadruple murder
On day four of the trial, the jury was brought to the corner of Randolph St. and Lasalle Ave., where the prosecutors key witness, Michael Canty said he saw Raymond Gore shoot Ashley Merricks when she opened the door.
Once counsel returned to the court room defense attorney, Michael Massie motioned to strike Canty's testimony and set aside a jury verdict.
Based on where the jury was standing when they went to the home on Maple Ave., Massie called Canty's testimony complete fiction.
Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney, Chris Warman, told Judge Brenda Spry, it's up to the jury to decide Canty's credibility.
Defense attorney, Nathan Chapman, also asked the court to strike three of Gore's charges.
News
Day 3 of Portsmouth murder trial ends with key witness's credibility questioned
He told Spry, Gore should only be charged with one count of aggravated murder since the alleged killings took place in one action.
He wanted to make sure if the jury did come to a guilty verdict, Gore would not be given four life sentences.
It was the same for the four shooting charges and four firearm charges.
The charges were later condensed from 12 to six.
During closing arguments Senior Assistant to the Commonwealth's Attorney, Haille Hogfeldt, told the jury only one person could tell us what happened that day and it was Michael Canty.
As the defense closed, Massie presented a large Monopoly "get out of jail" card to the jury, and said Canty just wanted to go home and he was willing to come into this courtroom and lie to you.
Homepage
Day Two of murder trial in Portsmouth ends with witness texting on stand
After an hour of deliberation, the jury found Gore not guilty on all six charges.
"He's [Gore] elated, this has been quite an ordeal," Massie said outside of the courthouse.
Massie said he doesn't believe police gave potential suspects enough attention.
"Even with the incident where a gentleman two blocks away spoke about the threat he got about 20 minutes after the Maple shooting," Massie said. "If someone lets down a window and says you're next and there's four people that have just gotten shot two blocks away, that's incumbent on everybody to look into that."
When asked if this means someone got away with murder, Massie said he hopes police will take more time to investigate all pieces to find the person responsible.
“At this point that's exactly the case," Massie said. "You know this case is big enough that these are four innocent people's lives that were taken. I would hope that it does not end today."
"The Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office respects the decision of the Portsmouth citizens who served as jurors in this trial. Our attorneys presented the evidence as it was revealed during the investigative process. Although the outcome was not as we hoped, our team will continue to stand by the families of the four innocent victims whose lives were lost to this horrendous crime that should never have happened and which must not be tolerated in our city. We are committed to remaining steadfast in our pursuit of justice for victims of violent crime."
On Wednesday, the prosecution's key witness,Canty, was texting his sister on the stand.
In court Thursday, those text messages were revealed:
One message read "The prosecution f***** up and he may get off without my testimony."
A half hour later, Canty's sister replied, "They don't make no sense. They ain't got their s*** together."
Canty was sending another message that read, "They went through with it. I'm still on the stand. I'm trying to save me." But the message was undelivered.
"You know when the court made the inquiry about who was he texting, and was he texting regarding this case, and he was not truthful about that was consistent of who Mr. Canty presented himself to be," Massie said.
At the end of day on Thursday, the defense questioned both the credibility of Canty's testimony and why he was texting on the stand the day before.
Defense attorney, Michael Massie, asked Judge Brenda Spry to dismiss the case again.
But the trial continued on Friday where the not guilty verdict was given.
Stay with News 3 for updates.
