I spent some time looking at the charges to try and see whether I could get a better sense of what may have happened. The arrest warrants for all three suspects list three VA criminal statutes -- § 18.2-31 (capital murder), § 18.2-18 (principles in the second degree), and § 18.2-48 (abduction) -- so I took a closer look at those.
§ 18.2-18. How principals in second degree and accessories before the fact punished.
In the case of every felony, every principal in the second degree and every accessory before the fact may be indicted, tried, convicted and punished in all respects as if a principal in the first degree; provided, however, that except in the case of a killing for hire under the provisions of subdivision 2 of § 18.2-31 or a killing pursuant to the direction or order of one who is engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise under the provisions of subdivision 10 of § 18.2-31 or a killing pursuant to the direction or order of one who is engaged in the commission of or attempted commission of an act of terrorism under the provisions of subdivision 13 of § 18.2-31, an accessory before the fact or principal in the second degree to a capital murder shall be indicted, tried, convicted and punished as though the offense were murder in the first degree.
What I immediately noticed was that principles in the second degree to a capital murder should be charged with first degree murder instead of capital murder unless it fell within one of three exceptions. Here, the three suspects seem to be charged with § 18.2-31, which is capital murder, so it would seem that one of the exceptions must apply. Here are the three "types" of capital murder that are exceptions:
§ 18.2-31. Capital murder defined; punishment.
Subsection 2. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any person by another for hire;
Subsection 10. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any person by another pursuant to the direction or order of one who is engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise as defined in subsection I of § 18.2-248;
Subsection 13. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any person by another in the commission of or attempted commission of an act of terrorism as defined in § 18.2-46.4;
Notably, the killing of a police officer (which would at first glance seem to be a reason for this case involving capital murder) is a type of capital murder that is not one of the exceptions:
Subsection 6. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of a law-enforcement officer as defined in § 9.1-101, a fire marshal appointed pursuant to § 27-30 or a deputy or an assistant fire marshal appointed pursuant to § 27-36, when such fire marshal or deputy or assistant fire marshal has police powers as set forth in §§ 27-34.2 and 27-34.2:1, an auxiliary police officer appointed or provided for pursuant to §§ 15.2-1731 and 15.2-1733, an auxiliary deputy sheriff appointed pursuant to § 15.2-1603, or any law-enforcement officer of another state or the United States having the power to arrest for a felony under the laws of such state or the United States, when such killing is for the purpose of interfering with the performance of his official duties;
Even stranger to me, the other VA statute listed in the arrest warrants was § 18.2-48, which deals with abductions. Which is listed as one basis for a capital murder charge (see below) - but only for the principle in the first degree, as it is also not one of the three exceptions.
Subsection 1. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of any person in the commission of abduction, as defined in § 18.2-48, when such abduction was committed with the intent to extort money or a pecuniary benefit or with the intent to defile the victim of such abduction;
(snipped)