PORTSMOUTH
Jamal Minggia, one of two teenagers charged in connection with the April 25 robbery and slaying of a pizza deliveryman, was in court Wednesday on a prior assault charge.
Minggia was found guilty of misdemeanor assault in connection with the Oct. 31 beating of a 15-year-old in Churchland.
The victim, Junius Edwards, testified that Minggia and "his gang" jumped him after he and a friend left a "haunted house" near the Merrifields and Brandon Square neighborhoods.
"He hit me right after his gang member hit me," Edwards said.
The blow knocked him to the ground, he said.
Edwards said Minggia hit him more than once and that as many as 30 to 40 people were hitting and kicking him.
Some girls eventually intervened to break up the fight and police arrived, he said.
Edwards was treated that night at a hospital for a bloody nose and still has trouble breathing at times, he said.
Minggia originally was charged with felony unlawful wounding, but Circuit Judge James Hawks found that the evidence did not prove it was his punch that caused the victim's nose to bleed.
He will be sentenced on the misdemeanor assault conviction on Aug. 28.
Minggia is scheduled to be tried on the charges related to the slaying of 50-year-old Robert Kiesewetter on Aug. 26.
He is being held in the Portsmouth City Jail without bond.
Janie Bryant, (757) 446-2453, janie.bryant@pilotonline.com
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