COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Willis, Bray and Retired Judge Whitehurst*

Argued at Norfolk, Virginia 

JASE MARCELLUS MONDY, S/K/A 

 JACE M. MONDY 

v. Record No. 1642-93-1 MEMORANDUM OPINION** BY 

 JUDGE JERE M. H. WILLIS, JR. 

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA JUNE 20, 1995 

 FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF CHESAPEAKE 

E. Preston Grissom, Judge 

 David W. Bouchard (Bouchard & Smith, on 

brief), for appellant. 

 Donald R. Curry, Senior Assistant Attorney 

General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney 

General, on brief), for appellee. 

 On appeal from his convictions of first degree murder and 

use of a firearm in the commission of a murder, Jase Marcellus 

Mondy contends that the evidence is insufficient as a matter of 

law to support his convictions. 

 "When considering the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal 

of a criminal conviction, we must view all the evidence in the 

light most favorable to the Commonwealth and accord to the 

evidence all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom." 

Traverso v. Commonwealth, 6 Va. App. 172, 176, 366 S.E.2d 719, 

721 (1988) (citations omitted). "The jury's verdict will not be 

 

 *Retired Judge Alfred W. Whitehurst took part in the 

consideration of this case by designation pursuant to Code 

§ 17-116.01. 

 **Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
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disturbed on appeal unless it is plainly wrong or without 

evidence to support it." Id.

 Steven Love, the victim, was a known drug dealer and Mondy 

was his bodyguard. On September 9, 1991, Love's body was found 

in an empty house located at 2212 Berkeley Avenue in Chesapeake. 

 Mondy had spent several nights at that house between July and 

August of 1991. Mondy's clothes were found strewn on the floor 

around Love's body. 

 Love's death occurred sometime between 8:00 p.m. on 

September 8th and 11:30 a.m. on September 9th. He was last seen 

alive on September 8 at about 7:30 p.m. by Kenneth Brown, his 

roommate. He was then going out with Mondy to do a "gun 

transaction." He was carrying between $4,000 and $5,000 in cash 

and one-half ounce of cocaine. Neither the money nor the cocaine 

was on Love's body when he was found. 

 Brown testified that he saw Mondy an hour later, but Love 

was not with him. Mondy told Brown that Love was with his 

girlfriend, Sherrie Cook. Ms. Cook testified that she last saw 

Love on September 7. 

 On September 8, Latyna Williams and Sean Sweat were to drive 

to North Carolina with Mondy. They were unable to contact him on 

his beeper from 8:30 p.m. until midnight. Ms. Williams testified 

that when they finally met him, he was carrying the brown leather 

book bag in which she knew he carried his .380 caliber handgun. 

Before leaving Chesapeake, the three of them drove to the 
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neighborhood where Love's body was found the next day. Mondy and 

Sweat got out of the car and were gone twenty minutes. 

 The cause of Love's death was a "gunshot wound to the back 

of the head." The bullet was fired from a .380 caliber handgun. 

 Several witnesses testified that Mondy owned a .380. When Mondy 

was arrested a month later in North Carolina, he was in 

possession of the murder weapon. 

 Mondy contends that the evidence is insufficient to support 

his convictions. He argues that because the evidence is entirely 

circumstantial, "to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt all 

the necessary circumstances proved must be consistent with guilt 

and inconsistent with innocence." Harrell v. Commonwealth, 11 

Va. App. 1, 9, 396 S.E.2d 680, 684 (1990). He argues that the 

evidence does not exclude the possibility that a third party 

killed Love. However, no evidence supports this hypothesis. 

"The Commonwealth need only exclude reasonable hypotheses of 

innocence that flow from the evidence, not those that spring from 

the imagination of the defendant." Hollins v. Commonwealth, 19 

Va. App. 223, 229, 450 S.E.2d 397, 400 (1994) (quoting Hamilton 

v. Commonwealth, 16 Va. App. 751, 755, 433 S.E.2d 27, 29 (1993) 

(citations omitted)). 

 Mondy was with Love on the night of the murder. Mondy knew 

that Love was a drug dealer and that he carried large sums of 

money and drugs. Mondy had stayed previously at the house where 

Love's body was found. Love was killed with a .380 caliber 
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handgun, a type owned by Mondy and in his possession on the night 

of the murder. Mondy was in possession of the murder weapon when 

he was arrested. See Schlimme v. Commonwealth, 16 Va. App. 15, 

21, 427 S.E.2d 431, 435 (1993) (sufficient evidence of criminal 

agency where defendant found in possession of gun five months 

after offense). 

 No evidence suggests that another person killed Love. "It 

has been stated that in cases involving circumstantial evidence 

. . . '[w]here all the circumstances of time, place, motive, 

means, opportunity, and conduct concur in pointing out the 

accused as the perpetrator of the crime . . . the evidence is 

powerfully strengthened by the total absence of any trace or 

vestige of any other agent.'" Hall v. Commonwealth, 2 Va. App. 

671, 674, 347 S.E.2d 193, 194 (1986) (quoting Lyons v. City of 

Petersburg, 221 Va. 10, 13, 266 S.E.2d 880, 881 (1980)). 

 We find the evidence sufficient to support Mondy's 

convictions and affirm the judgments of the trial court. 

 Affirmed.