Nearly nine years after Joshua Sykes was gunned down in Portsmouth, one of the men accused in his death has finally admitted guilt. Zebulon Weinschel entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and robbery in connection with the Sept. 4, 2017 killing, a case that had already survived a deadlocked jury, a mistrial, and the dismissal of his brother's charges altogether.
Portsmouth police officers responded to a reported shooting on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2017, in the 1100 block of Wilcox Avenue, according to WAVY.com. Officers found Joshua Sykes, who WAVY reports was 26 years old, suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper torso, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. A separate account from the Virginian-Pilot describes Sykes, reported there as 27, as having been found dead in his home near Norfolk Naval Shipyard after being shot once in the head — the two outlets' reporting does not agree on his age or the nature of his wound.
Two Brothers, Two Very Different Case Outcomes
Two brothers, Alexander Weinschel and Zebulon Weinschel, were initially charged in September 2017 in connection with the killing, the station's report notes. Alexander Weinschel was arrested in February 2018, months after his brother. Zebulon Weinschel was charged three separate times with first-degree murder in connection with Sykes's death, and his case took a winding path through the courts before Monday's plea.
In a 2019 trial, a Portsmouth jury found Zebulon Weinschel guilty of robbery but deadlocked on murder and two firearm charges, according to pilotonline.com. Rather than let the partial verdict stand, the judge decided to throw out the robbery conviction and order a new trial on all four counts instead of just three, the outlet reported at the time. Court documents provided no further details about the outcomes of those first two proceedings, and the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office did not respond to requests for additional information, per the same account.
Brother's Charges Dismissed Over Speedy-Trial Violation
While Zebulon Weinschel's case dragged on, his brother's fell apart entirely. Alexander Weinschel's attorneys argued that his right to a speedy trial had been violated, and on April 15, 2024, a Portsmouth judge agreed, dismissing the second-degree murder and firearm charges against him with prejudice. Prosecutors had cited the COVID-19 pandemic — which began years after the 2017 shooting and the 2018 arrest — as a reason they could not bring Alexander Weinschel to trial within the legal time limit, but the judge was not persuaded, and his attorneys successfully had his case thrown out.
That dismissal was not an isolated stumble for local prosecutors. A 2024 report described the ruling as at least the third major felony case in Portsmouth in the past year that had been dismissed by a judge because of issues with the prosecution, according to dailypress.com. The pattern raised broader questions at the time about how Portsmouth's court system was handling major criminal cases, even as Zebulon Weinschel's prosecution continued separately toward Monday's resolution.
What Comes Next
With the guilty plea entered, sentencing for Zebulon Weinschel will be scheduled at a later date, WAVY reported. No further details on the sentencing timeline or potential penalties have been released.
