A Petersburg man who 36 years ago was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted rape of a classmate in Lynchburg died in a May 2 vehicle wreck in Hopewell, Virginia State Police said.
Gregory Allen Joyner, 52, was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years after a 1989 trial but the Virginia Parole Board granted his release in April 2021. Joyner was 16 at the time of Sarah Jayne Jamison’s murder and claimed he had consensual sex with the 15-year-old when he visited her early one morning after a party.
Joyner, who was 49 upon his release, admitted to strangling Jamison, according to evidence presented at trial. He told investigators he then carried her body into the woods near her parents’ house and buried her, where she was found two weeks later. Prosecutors said she had injuries that indicated she was raped.
Jamison was killed the night of the Heritage High School prom in May 1988, according to The News & Advance archives. At a June 1989 sentencing in Lynchburg Circuit Court, then-Judge Richard S. Miller imposed the life sentence and heard Joyner say in court he was sorry and had remorse, according to the newspaper’s archives.
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“I did do some bad things … I do think I should be put away for a period of time. I’ll have years to think. I’ll have years to change,” Joyner was quoted in a June 10, 1989, article with the headline: “Teen draws maximum penalty.”
A Lynchburg man convicted of first-degree murder and attempted rape of a classmate in 1988 w…
Three years and one month after his release, Joyner’s life came to an end on Interstate 295, according to Virginia State Police. Shortly before 7 a.m. May 2 a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado that Joyner was driving changed lanes and struck a 2022 Freightliner tractor-trailer, causing both vehicles to lose control, police said. The Silverado then drove off the road and struck a sign and some trees, police said.
Joyner, who was wearing a seat belt, died at the scene, according to police.
Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison said this week when Joyner was granted release under then-Gov. Ralph Northam’s parole board “it was evident that the memory of Sarah Jamison’s murder still haunted the community.”
Harrison said she received calls from former law enforcement officers who worked the case and spoke to several people who recalled the murder, all opposed to Joyner’s release.
“The murder shattered a common sense of peace and safety in this community given that a teenage girl was lured from her home, sexually assaulted, murdered by strangulation and buried in a shallow grave just blocks away,” Harrison said. “Given her state of composition, the Commonwealth could only prove attempted rape which was not included in the capital murder statute. Because of this case, the statute was amended to include attempted rape.”
Joyner was convicted and sentenced years before parole was abolished in Virginia in the mid-1990s under the administration of former Gov. George Allen.
The Virginia Parole Board sent members of Jamison’s family letters in December 2020 notifying them of its decision based on its belief Joyner has been rehabilitated, according to Jamison’s sister, Stacey Gallier.
“The way he killed her and buried her … and acted like nothing happened — that’s not just somebody who rehabilitates,” Gallier said in a December 2020 interview with The News & Advance. “That’s kind of a hard pill to swallow.”
Dell Jamison, Sarah Jamison’s father, in a previous news release Harrison issued announcing the parole board’s decision was quoted as saying the sentence was intended for punishment, not rehabilitation.
“If he was sentenced today, he would never get out of prison,” Dell Jamison said in the release. “Joyner has not expressed remorse to my knowledge.”
Former Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney William G. Petty, who also has served as a judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals, prosecuted the case and said city residents would not accept anything but a life sentence for the murder, according to The News & Advance archives.
“This is the final chapter in what can only be described as one of the worst tragedies this community has had to suffer,” Petty was quoted in the June 1989 article reporting Joyner’s life sentence. “… On what should have been the happiest day of her life, she was murdered … There isn’t one bit of evidence to indicate Sarah Jamison did anything to justify that attack, to justify what happened to her, to justify her death. Let this court’s decision ring loud and clear what this court thinks of Greg Joyner’s actions.”
Joyner’s trial was moved to Alexandria because of publicity and while he did not testify, he told police he was drunk, according to the newspaper’s archives. Evidence at trial showed Joyner rode his bicycle several miles to the victim’s house, she offered to help him and made a failed attempt to get him a ride home and he “explained that something inside snapped, and that he choked her without knowing why,” the June 1989 newspaper account of the sentencing states.
Joyner had been charged with murder during commission of rape, a capital offense, but because he was convicted of attempted rape and murder, he was not eligible for the death penalty, the newspaper reported at his sentencing. After receiving his sentence at age 17, Joyner became eligible for parole at age 32 and received it 17 years later. He served nearly 32 years for the crime following his 1989 sentencing.
Joyner previously came before the board and was refused parole in June 2017 and May 2019, documents show. Both times, the board cited the “serious nature and circumstances of your offense[s],” stating he should serve more time before being granted parole and found release at that point would diminish the seriousness of his crimes.
The Galliers, in the December 2020 interview, said they’ve spoken by phone to people affiliated with the Virginia Parole Board previously to protest any release of Jamison’s killer.
“For myself [it’s] just the concern for other females out there once he gets out, and the fact that he took my sister’s life and he gets to have one,” Stacey Gallier said at the time.
Joyner’s release came during a time when the coronavirus pandemic led the parole board to review more cases in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19 and “minimize the risk to offenders and staff members,” it said in a previous statement, though it is unclear if Joyner’s release was connected to that effort.
Attempts by The News & Advance in late 2020 to receive comment from the state parole board on why Joyner was released were not successful.
“I pray that with Joyner’s passing that the Jamison family can have some sense of peace,” Harrison said. “It is likely partially unsatisfactory given that many feel Joyner’s early release with no explanation as to why was an injustice.”
Harrison added she is glad of reforms made to the composition of the state parole board by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and reforms in the laws governing disclosure of release and accountability for parole board votes put forth by Republican members of the General Assembly.
“These changes clearly made a positive impact as we are no longer reading of horror stories of murders and rapists released early and lack of notification to victims and their families,” Harrison said.
Justin Faulconer, (434) 385-5551
Richmond Times-Dispatch contributed to this report.