A federal jury in Norfolk is weighing whether Antwan Hue, 43, paid two hired gunmen $10,000 to murder Charlene Ryals, the 38-year-old mother of one of his children, so he could stop paying child support that was blocking his passport renewal. The prosecution rested its case Monday after a week of testimony that included a hitman's admission he pulled the trigger — and his claim that Hue wanted everyone in the house killed, including a child.
A Decade-Old Killing Returns to Court
Ryals, a Navy veteran and mother of two, was shot to death inside her Roland Park house in December 2016, in front of her 9-year-old son, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Prosecutors allege Steeps and an unnamed conspirator pushed inside her Norfolk home on Dec. 4, 2016, and shot her multiple times, according to a 2024 account from the Boston Globe. Deshawn Mercer and Zquan Steeps are identified as the two men allegedly hired to carry out the killing.
Federal prosecutors have linked Ryals' murder to an international cocaine-trafficking operation involving her son's father, per the Pilot's reporting. A grand jury indicted Hue and four co-defendants on May 8, 2024, according to court records from the case. Court filings state Hue is charged with trafficking cocaine and hiring two of his co-defendants, Mercer and Steeps, to kill Ryals. Hue was arrested in Mashpee on June 4, 2024, and later pleaded not guilty, demanding a jury trial, per the same court record.
The Alleged Motive: Child Support and a Denied Passport
According to the court filing, the government alleges Hue arranged the murder in an effort to end his child support obligation after an arrearage prevented him from renewing his United States passport. The Pilot reports Hue owed about $8,000 in child support and that his passport renewal was denied in October 2016. Prosecutors say Hue offered Mercer a contract to kill Ryals in exchange for money that same November, according to the court filing.
Mercer testified that Hue agreed to pay him and Steeps $10,000 to kill Ryals, though the two received less than the full agreed amount, the Pilot reports. Mercer also testified that Hue wanted him to kill everyone in the house and said a child might be included — a detail Mercer said he refused. The lead FBI investigator on the case, Justin Terry, told the court he first heard a competing account — that Hue wanted Ryals only roughed up, not killed — during the defense's opening statement the week before, according to the Pilot's coverage.
Cruise Ships, Cocaine and a Middleman Role
Prosecutors have also tied Hue to a drug-trafficking operation that ran alongside the murder allegations. Federal authorities wrote Hue ran the ring with Regina Chen between 2015 and 2019, per the Boston Globe, which reported the operation smuggled multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine out of Jamaica and stowed them aboard cruise ships. The Pilot describes Hue as a middleman between cocaine suppliers in Jamaica and East Coast dealers, including in Richmond, and reports he allegedly coordinated drug mules who traveled between Florida and Jamaica posing as cruise ship travelers as far back as 2014.
Those mules concealed cocaine in vacuum-sealed packages hidden in underwear with sewn-in pockets, and some wore flowing summer dresses to hide drugs on their bodies, according to the Pilot. Kayla Bedessie and Regina Chen allegedly coordinated money and travel for the operation together, the outlet reports. Chen and Kerri Ann Wright are each identified as mothers of other children with Hue, and both women testified against him at trial, per the Pilot's account. Chastity Ryals also testified against Hue at trial.
Charges, a Dropped Case and a Death Penalty Ruling
Hue faces one felony count each of murder for hire, conspiracy to commit murder for hire, murder while engaged in drug trafficking, and conspiracy to traffic cocaine, the Pilot reports. The indictment itself charges him with conspiracy to commit murder for hire, murder for hire, murder while engaged in a drug-trafficking offense, and cocaine-trafficking conspiracy, according to the federal court filing. That filing also confirms a court granted Hue's motion to strike the government's notice of intent to seek the death penalty.
The case against one of the alleged hitmen took a winding path before reaching trial. Steeps was charged with Ryals' murder in 2019, but those charges were dropped in 2021 after his DNA was linked to the scene, the Pilot reports. Hue's four alleged co-conspirators ultimately pleaded guilty and testified against him in exchange for reduced sentences, per the same reporting.
Dueling Accounts of the Hitman's Testimony
Defense attorney Kyle Boynton moved to dismiss all four charges against Hue after the prosecution rested, arguing the government lacked sufficient evidence that Hue explicitly paid Mercer and Steeps to kill Ryals. Boynton said Mercer had an incentive to blame someone else for the murder, according to the Pilot's courtroom account.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian J. Samuels pushed back during questioning of FBI investigator Justin Terry, asking about Mercer's statements that Hue had asked where his shooters were when seeking prospective hitmen. Terry testified that Mercer used the same words before and after agreeing to a plea deal, and said Mercer had consistently made that statement throughout Terry's five years working the case. Samuels argued Mercer's account and testimony demonstrated the nature of the agreement between Hue and the hitmen, the Pilot reports.
U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen asked Hue on Monday whether he intended to testify in his own defense; Hue requested more time to decide, according to the Pilot. The trial is continuing in federal court, with the defense's case yet to unfold before the jury.
