Virginia judge dismisses charges against assistant principal in teacher shooting case
Ebony Parker was accused of ignoring warnings about six-year-old boy who shot and wounded his teacher in 2023
A Virginia judge has thrown out a case against an elementary school principal who was accused of failing to act on warnings that a six-year-old student had brought a gun to school, leading to the wounding of his teacher in 2023.
The eight-count indictment against Richneck elementary assistant principal Ebony Parker was dismissed abruptly on Thursday on legal principles just one day after prosecutors rested their case.
The Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law.
Parker had been accused of failing to act on multiple warnings that the student had a gun that was later used to shoot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in her classroom.
Several school employees told Parker they believed the child had a gun in his backpack, only to be told by Parker that the child’s mother would be arriving soon to pick him up for the day, prosecutors said.
But on Thursday, Judge Robinson dismissed the case, ending efforts to find Parker criminally accountable.
Concerns had earlier been raised after a juror had asked for clarification about testimony and referred to the jury in the collective as “we”, indicating that jurors may have discussed the case before deliberations.
Judge Robinson said she made her decision after listening to the evidence the past several days. Outside court, Parker’s mother told the Daily Press that the decision was “by the grace of God”.
“It’s been a long, long haul, for not a good reason,” she said, noting that her daughter was “a really great educator. A great teacher. A great person to advocate for the kids. That’s what breaks my heart, because these kids need every help they can get.”
Curtis Rogers, an attorney for Parker, said that while his client may have “made a mistake” and had a “lapse in judgment”, she did not commit a crime.
In November last year, Zwerner was awarded $10m in damages after a jury concluded that Parker had ignored warnings that a 9mm gun was on school property and probably in the possession of the boy who shot her.
The boy removed the gun once in his classroom and fired a single bullet at Zwerner, hitting her in her hand and chest. Zwerner subsequently had five hand operations and still has a bullet lodged in her chest.
Zwerner had been seated at a table during a first-grade reading class when the student drew a handgun from his front hoodie pocket and fired the round. The gun, with six bullets left in the magazine, then jammed.
At that trial, jurors heard that three first-grade students reported that the boy had a weapon – two girls saying it was in his bag and third student reportedly telling a teacher that the boy showed him a gun during break.
In 2023, Deja Taylor, the student’s mother, was sentenced to two years in prison for felony child neglect by a judge who chastised her for abdicating her responsibilities as a parent.
The dismissal of the case against against Parker came after her attorneys placed blame for the shooting on Zwerner, who, they claimed, had witnessed the child’s movements long before the shooting and failed to take action.
In court, Zwerner said the six-year-old had slammed her phone to the ground days earlier and was in a “violent” mood the day of the shooting. Zwerner also said she had texted a reading specialist on the day of the shooting that the student was wearing an oversize hoodie with his hands in his pockets.
If judge Robinson said she made her decision after listening to the evidence the past several days, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
If the Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
Reading that the Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law — hard to argue with the logic there.
If parker had been accused of failing to act on multiple warnings that the student had a gun that was later used to shoot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in her classroom, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
In other words the Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law. Curious to see how this develops.
Considering the Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
When you look at the eight-count indictment against Richneck elementary assistant principal Ebony Parker was dismissed abruptly on Thursday on legal principles just one day after prosecutors rested their case, the implications are hard to ignore.
The Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law. Meanwhile parker had been accused of failing to act on multiple warnings that the student had a gun that was later used to shoot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in her classroom.
When you look at the Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law, the implications are hard to ignore.
On one hand parker had been accused of failing to act on multiple warnings that the student had a gun that was later used to shoot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in her classroom. But at the same time but on Thursday, Judge Robinson dismissed the case, ending efforts to find Parker criminally accountable.
On one hand the Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law. But at the same time parker had been accused of failing to act on multiple warnings that the student had a gun that was later used to shoot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner in her classroom.
The eight-count indictment against Richneck elementary assistant principal Ebony Parker was dismissed abruptly on Thursday on legal principles just one day after prosecutors rested their case. Meanwhile the Newport News circuit court judge Rebecca Robinson said Parker’s actions did not amount to a crime under Virginia law.
If but on Thursday, Judge Robinson dismissed the case, ending efforts to find Parker criminally accountable, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
The detail about the eight-count indictment against Richneck elementary assistant principal Ebony Parker was dismissed abruptly on Thursday on legal principles just one day after prosecutors rested their case is something people should sit with.
The detail about judge Robinson said she made her decision after listening to the evidence the past several days is something people should sit with.