CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—A University of Virginia student accused of fatally shooting three UVA football players and wounding two other students made his first in-person appearance in court Thursday, as a judge set a date for a hearing when witnesses will testify about the shootings on a bus carrying students back to campus from a field trip last month.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 23, was led into court wearing handcuffs, leg irons and a striped jail jumpsuit. He sat quietly as his public defender, a prosecutor and Judge Kenneth Andrew Sneathern scheduled a preliminary hearing for March 30.
If the judge decides after hearing from witnesses that the state has enough evidence to establish probable cause that Jones committed the killings, he’ll send the case to a grand jury. Commonwealth’s Attorney James Hingeley told the judge that the state plans to call a large number of witnesses….