NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The mother of the first-grade student accused in the Richneck Elementary School shooting pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to a felony child neglect charge.
Deja Taylor's misdemeanor charge of endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm was nolle prossed in court, meaning prosecutors set that charge aside. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said they will not seek a sentence that is longer than state sentencing guidelines, which call for six months in jail or prison. Her sentencing is set for Oct. 27.
"I still think no jail time would be appropriate. Given the mitigating factors that will present at sentencing...I mean, basically, this was the Commonwealth's case," Taylor's attorney, James Ellenson, explained. "We haven't put on our evidence about what is the mitigation and that'll be presented at the sentencing."
She was originally set to face a bench trial on August 15 in Newport News Circuit Court, but last month, it was changed to a plea hearing on the same day.
Newport News police say her then 6-year-old son shot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner on January 6 inside her classroom at Richneck Elementary. According to court documents, the child said "I shot that b**** dead," "I did it," and "I got my mom's gun last night."
The charges came after an investigation by the Newport News Police Department and the city's Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. The office said it "determined that the facts and the law" support charges against Taylor for those two offenses.
"She feels very responsible," Ellenson said shortly after the hearing. "She feels bad and I think that's the general irritability, anxiety, depression and everything else."
Since the January shooting, Taylor told reporters she had the gun secured inside her home and that she doesn't know how her son got ahold of her gun.
Investigators wrote in a "Statement of Facts" document regarding the search warrant they conducted that they found a firearm barrel lock inside the home, but they did not find a lockbox, a trigger lock or a key to a trigger lock.
During the Tuesday hearing, prosecutors unveiled more details about the investigation into the shooting, as well as a prior incident that happened months before the shooting.
Prosecutors said in an interview with detectives, the child told investigators that he stood on a drawer of his mother’s dresser and took the gun from there. He later told investigators that he stole the gun because, "I needed to shoot my teacher."
At some point before the shooting, Child Protective Services (CPS) learned that the child took his mother's car keys out of her purse to try to take her car. That's when CPS recommended putting those keys in a lockbox.
When reporters asked Ellenson if he spoke to Taylor about why she would lock away her car keys in a box and not her handgun, Ellenson said, "We haven't discussed those kinds of things and that...that would impede on the attorney-client privilege."
According to prosecutors, CPS also discovered the child played with his mother's gun at his grandmother's house, saying he "wanted to go to a gun range."
Following her indictment in April, she turned herself in at the Newport News City Jail but later posted $5,000 and was released on bond.
Taylor is also facing federal firearm charges of illegally obtaining and possessing a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. She pleaded guilty to the charges and is set to be sentenced on October 18.
In the federal case, Taylor faces 18 months to two years in prison. Ellenson said a judge would take that case into consideration when sentencing Taylor on the child neglect charge.
Newport News Commonwealth's Attorney Howard Gwynn filed a motion to assign a special grand jury to this investigation to determine if anyone else should face charges related to the Richneck Elementary shooting.
Following the shooting, Zwerner's legal team filed a $40 million lawsuit against Newport News Public Schools, accusing administrators of ignoring warnings of the boy having a gun the day of the shooting.
In response to the plea, Zwerner's attorney Diane Toscano shared the following statement:
“As the criminal probe widens, our focus remains on justice for Abby and holding the school system accountable for failing to act on warnings the boy had a gun.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.