NORFOLK, Va. — Jason M. Jablonski, the Norfolk-based Sailor charged with second-degree murder in the death of 45-year-old Herbert Bryant, of Virginia Beach, has been sentenced to near six years in prison.
According to online court records, Petty Officer 1st Class Jablonski received a ten-year prison sentence with four years and four months suspended.
Jablonski pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter after reaching an agreement with prosecutors. Previously, in an Oct. 2022 hearing, Jablonski tried to plead guilty but the judge, at the time, continued it to Tuesday. That way the sentencing judge could formally accept it.
Jablonski has been in the Virginia Beach Correctional Center since the incident in March 2022.
On March 11, Virginia Beach officers arrived at a home in the 1200 block of Edenham Court. The investigation led authorities to identify the first suspect as Jablonski.
Court documents show Jablonski was on a "crack bender" when he got into a fight with Bryant, beating Bryant in the face with a dumbbell, then pushing the dumbbell down on Bryant's neck until he stopped moving. Jablonski is said to have dragged Bryant's body outside, then fled to a hotel.
Jablonski had no previous convictions.
Navy officials later confirmed to News 3 he was assigned to Naval Station Norfolk.
"At this time there are no updates to his service record," a Navy spokesperson told News 3.
Heather Totty, 35, of Virginia Beach, was charged with being an accessory to a felony offense, a class one misdemeanor. She was found guilty in Aug. 2022 and received a 12-month jail sentence with six months suspended, along with a year of unsupervised probation.
