Virginia man gets 25 years
Sentence issued for shooting death at 2023 graduation
RICHMOND — A young man accused the fatal shooting of a teenager last year pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder and a firearm-related charge. He was sentenced to 43 years in prison.
The slain teen had received his high school diploma minutes earlier at Hugenot High School.
Amari Pollard, 20, entered the plea during the fourth day of his trial in the shooting outside the graduation that left 18-year-old Shawn Jackson dead, news outlets 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 downgrade Pollard’s charges and the admission of certain evidence.
Jackson and his stepfather, Lorenzo Smith, were shot and killed at the conclusion of graduation ceremonies outside Richmond’s Altria Theater on the outskirts of Virginia Commonwealth University. Five other people were wounded by gunfire, and at least 12 more suffered other injuries or were treated for anxiety due to the
mayhem, police said.
Pollard initially also was charged in Smith’s death, but prosecutors later dropped charges, determining after a longer investigation that they lacked the evidence needed to try him for that shooting.
At the time of the violence, Richmond police said that Pollard knew Jackson and the two had been embroiled 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 home for months because of fears for his safety but was still allowed to attend commencement ceremonies.
Richmond City Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin said in a news release after the pleas that Pollard’s “callous and thoughtless actions in a public graduation in a public space in the middle of the afternoon are the sole reason that he is going to serve 25 years in prison. His actions and his actions alone.”