A jury on Friday afternoon convicted a man of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the killing of a 19-year-old at a Great Bridge home in July 2020.

Prosecutors presented circumstantial evidence that Seth Morgan, 37, killed Antonio San Antonio at the direction of William Whittaker, who was in the Chesapeake City Jail at the time.

Whittaker, 37, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to second-degree murder in the killing of Antonio, and is serving a 40-year sentence.

In the week before the Antonio’s shooting on July 31, Whittaker was arrested on an outstanding warrant for failing to appear at a sentencing for malicious wounding.

In a series of recorded jail calls played in court, Whittaker and Morgan’s voices are hard to make out, but they show Whittaker referred to Antonio as a “puzzle piece,” and a “snitch” responsible for his incarceration, that “wasn’t to be trusted.”

He tells Morgan to “take care of that.”

Morgan testified Friday that the “business” he discussed with Whittaker wasn’t about Antonio but collecting and safeguarding records of their scheme to defraud pandemic relief funds.

Morgan said Joshua Garcia, Whittaker’s boyfriend, picked him up at his Suffolk home and drove him to the home on Washington Drive to collect materials involved with their fraud scheme after Whittaker was jailed.

He testified that he never owned or carried a gun, and said he left the house after 11:00 pm and was picked up by Garcia, who drove him home.

Body camera footage of responding officers played in the courtroom showed Antonio with gunshot wounds in his chest and head, wrapped in a blanket on the floor of the residence’s living room, and a laptop opened in front of him.

Morgan’s motive, the prosecution argued, was money. Whittaker, the prosecution showed, took out a life insurance policy on Antonio in the months before his death.

In a jail call soon after Antonio’s killing, Whittaker could be heard telling Morgan he had money for him. Morgan can be heard telling Whittaker “I kept my promise.”

Morgan, arrested 12 hours after Antonio was found dead, told detectives that Whittaker had ordered him to kill Antonio. He was sent to the house that night to do so, according to a recording played in court. But he “couldn’t do it bro, I loved Tony, for real,” Morgan told detectives.

On the third day of the trial, the prosecution called Charles Smith, an inmate in the Chesapeake jail, to testify that Morgan told him he had shot Antonio.

Smith’s testimony, the prosecutors said, included details that had not been publicized — such as the existence of the life insurance policy and where Antonio was shot.

Friends and family of Antonio packed the seats of the courtroom.

“You can hear lightning, thunder and the sounds of rain” said Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Amar Meda about the evidence presented. “You don’t have to see the rain to know it is raining.”

The jury reached a guilty verdict on all charges after three hours of deliberation.

Trevor Robinson, Morgan’s attorney, said Morgan maintains his innocence and intends to appeal the decision after he is sentenced in July.

Morgan is scheduled to stand trial in March for a separate shooting that prosecutors allege was also carried out at the direction of Whittaker.

Nori Leybengrub, 757-349-3523, nori.leybengrub@virginiamedia.com

https://www.dailypress.com/2026/01/30/chesapeake-murder-guilty/