Judge chastised Deja Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old kid who shot his teacher in Virginia, for failing to fulfill her parental responsibilities and sentenced her to two years in prison on a felony child negligence charge.
Judge Christopher Papile of the Circuit Court imposed a sentence on Taylor that is regarded as harsher than the maximum six-month term that the prosecutors had agreed upon as part of a plea agreement. It also exceeds the maximum recommended by state sentencing standards.
In August, the 26-year-old mother entered a guilty plea to one count of criminal negligence. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop the misdemeanor offense of recklessly storing a handgun.
Judge Papile stated that the sentencing guidelines failed to consider the psychological and emotional toll that the shooting inflicted on first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner, other students, and staff at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Zwerner was shot by the youngster, who caused injuries to her hand, chest, bones, and lung. She underwent five surgeries, spent weeks in the hospital, and now says she will never teach again since the shooting has left her so psychologically scarred.
Papile remarked, “We are lucky that it was not somebody killed at Richneck Elementary,” according to CTV News.
Taylor received a second jail sentence for the nation-shocking classroom shooting in January. In November, Taylor received a sentence of 21 months in federal prison for consuming marijuana while in possession of a handgun, a violation of US law. She will serve her state term in increments of one year, for a total sentence of over four years in prison.
Her son told the police that he had stolen his mother’s 9mm handgun by getting to the top of a dresser by climbing over a drawer, and that the gun was concealed in his mother’s pocketbook.He hid the gun in his luggage, then in his pocket, before shooting Zwerner in front of her first-grade students.
Taylor claimed that she locked her gun with a trigger lock, but the investigators were unable to confirm her claim.Calvin Taylor, her son’s great-grandfather, told reporters following the court that Papile’s punishment was “excessive.” Her son currently resides with Calvin Taylor.
Calvin said that although Taylor made an effort to get her son treated prior to the incident, Child Protective Services ignored her request. The youngster, who is now seven years old, suffered from many ailments, including insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and difficulties with “basic socialization,” according to prosecutor Travis White.
White said, “That is the depths of neglect that Deja Taylor inflicted on her child.” He called the shooting “a consequence and manifestation of that neglect.”
According to White, the boy spent 227 days in inpatient therapy following the gunshot, where he was attended to by a team of physicians, psychiatrists, and other clinicians.
Taylor said nothing at the hearing. As per James Ellenson, Taylor’s attorney, she struggled with addiction and domestic abuse. He stated that since she was fifteen years old, Taylor has smoked marijuana “all day, every day.”
Ellenson disclosed earlier this year that Taylor’s postpartum depression and miscarriages were among the “mitigating circumstances.”She has also been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which is a diagnosis that shares symptoms with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, according to court documents.
Taylor admitted to “Good Morning America” in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner. “That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor expressed.
During her sentencing in federal court last month, one of Taylor’s attorneys read aloud a brief statement in which Taylor said she would feel remorse “for the rest of my life.”
After the shooting, the boy told a reading specialist who restrained him, “I shot that (expletive) dead” and “I got my mom’s gun last night,” according to search warrants.
The teacher who was hurt, Zwerner, is suing Newport News Public Schools for forty million dollars, claiming that the administration disregarded multiple signs that the child was carrying a weapon on the day of the event. Zwerner related the incident to the judge during the trial, saying, “I was not sure whether it would be my final moment on earth.”
She reported having difficulty sleeping, anxiety, sadness, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The shooting has instilled many fears in me that will remain forever,” she said.
She added that because she is now terrified to work with children, she will not be going back to teaching.
“Now, at 26 years old, what am I supposed to do?” she lamented. “My life will never be close to the same again,” she added.