A young man accused last year of fatally shooting a teenager who had graduated from high school minutes earlier in Richmond, Virginia, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and a firearms-related charge
RICHMOND, Va. — A young man accused last year of fatally shooting a teenager who had graduated from high school minutes earlier at a public event in Virginia pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder and a gun-related charge and was sentenced to 43 years in prison.
Amari Pollard, 20, pleaded guilty during the fourth day of his trial in the shooting outside the Huguenot High School graduation ceremony that left 18-year-old Shawn Jackson dead, news media reported.
Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant, who sentenced Pollard, suspended 18 years of the sentence, meaning he could be eligible for release in 25 years, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Pollard entered the plea after Marchant made two decisive rulings against him earlier Thursday. The judge ruled against a motion to reduce Pollard’s charges and against the admission of certain evidence.
Both Jackson and his stepfather, Lorenzo Smith, were shot dead at the end of graduation ceremonies outside Richmond’s Altria Theater, located on the edge of Virginia Commonwealth University. Five other people were injured by gunfire, and at least 12 others suffered other injuries or were treated for anxiety as a result of the chaos, police said.
Pollard was also initially charged in Smith’s death, but prosecutors later dropped the charges and, after a longer investigation, concluded they did not have the evidence needed to charge him for that shooting.
At the time of the violence, Richmond police said Pollard knew Jackson and the two had been involved in a dispute for more than a year. A report prepared by a law firm for the Richmond Public Schools and released in January said Jackson had been kept at home for months due to fears for his safety, but was still allowed to attend the commencement ceremony.
Richmond City Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin said in a news release after the pleas that Pollard’s “callous and thoughtless actions during a public graduation ceremony in a public place in the middle of the afternoon are the sole reason he will serve 25 years in prison . His actions and his actions alone.”