Murder trial ends in mistrial
Published 10:15 pm Wednesday, May 2, 2018
A murder trial ended in a mistrial in Suffolk Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Troyonne Markest Ellis Sr., 29, was on trial on six charges related to a shooting death that happened in April 2017 in the Magnolia Lakes Trailer Park on Nansemond Parkway. Tyrone Bailey, 26, died in the shooting.
According to a warrant filed in Suffolk Circuit Court, a woman called 911 that morning and said someone had come in the back door of her trailer. A man fought with Bailey, her boyfriend, before shooting him, the document stated. The woman identified Ellis, the father of her child, as the shooter, according to the warrant. Bailey died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
The jury trial for Ellis began Tuesday. Before the lunch break Wednesday, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Thomas Shaia asked a question that was not allowed by the rules of the court, Shaia said by phone later.
Shaia declined to reveal what the question was, citing the need to avoid tainting future jurors.
Defense attorney Nicole Belote asked for a mistrial, and Judge Carl E. Eason Jr. granted the motion.
A hearing is set for Thursday to determine new trial dates.
Ellis is charged with first-degree murder, statutory burglary, malicious shooting in an occupied building, shoot, stab, cut or wound and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.