PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth Judge Kenneth Melvin ruled during a bench trial Monday to acquit Javon Jamal Simms of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The judge accepted Simms' version of events that he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Khamarl Mahs at the Hodges Manor Apartments in July 2020.
Attorney James Broccoletti, who defended Simms at trial, told 13NewsNow that Mahs had a weapon at his right hip and his client acted in self-defense.
Simms testified that Mahs barricaded himself inside a bedroom in Simms’ girlfriend’s apartment and reached for his gun, prompting Simms to shoot Mahs seven times.
Broccoletti said that Simms acted in self-defense of himself, his girlfriend and their 11-month child.
It was later discovered that Mahs’ weapon was unloaded.
Broccoletti explained that the judge’s decision falls under Virginia’s ‘Castle Doctrine’ which allows deadly force “by a person in his dwelling against an intruder in the dwelling who has committed an overt act against him or another person who is lawfully in the dwelling.”