Update: Deja Nicole Taylor, whose 6-year-old son shot Richneck Elementary schoolteacher Abby Zwerner on Jan. 6, is expected to plead guilty to gun and marijuana charges on Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Newport News.
Taylor, 25, is accused of possessing a handgun while simultaneously having a large amount of marijuana — a drug that’s still illegal federally. She’s also accused of lying on a federal background check form when she bought the gun, saying she wasn’t a weed user when she really was.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Miller is expected to accept Taylor’s guilty pleas to the two federal charges. Taylor, who is out on bond, will be sentenced later this year by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis. Separately, Taylor has a pending child neglect case in Newport News Circuit Court.
Previous coverage below:
The mother of the 6-year-old student who shot his teacher at Richneck Elementary School earlier this year has been charged in federal court with felony gun charges related to marijuana use.
Deja Nicole Taylor, whose son shot 25-year-old Abby Zwerner in her first-grade classroom, is charged with using a controlled substance while in possession of a handgun.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, began investigating Taylor after the Jan. 6 shooting, along with Newport News Police.
Though several states have moved to legalize marijuana in recent years — including Virginia in 2021 — the drug remains illegal under federal law. Marijuana remains a controlled substance federally, just like heroin and cocaine, and it’s a federal felony to use it while armed with a gun.
Moreover, the 25-year-old Taylor stands accused of lying on a federal background check form when she purchased the handgun on July 19, 2022.
“Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” the form asks. “Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.”
If someone checks “yes” — admitting they use weed or certain other narcotics — they are barred from buying a gun. Taylor is accused of falsely checking “no” on that question, “when in fact, as she knew then, she was an unlawful user of marijuana,” the charging document says.
Taylor then walked out of a York County gun shop, Winfree Firearms, with a newly purchased Taurus 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, according to court documents. That was the same gun her son used to shoot Zwerner in the classroom less than six months later.
Taylor was charged in U.S. District Court in Newport News on Monday by way of a criminal “information” — often a preliminary kind of charging document written by a prosecutor — rather than an indictment by a grand jury.
Her attorney, James Ellenson, said he had been in discussions with prosecutors about the charges in recent weeks.
“The information was an agreed procedure which eliminated the need for the government to take the case to a grand jury,” he wrote in a news release Monday. “Our action follows very constructive negotiations we had with federal authorities.”
The maximum sentence for the two federal charges is 25 years combined, but discretionary sentencing guidelines would be significantly less. Taylor is expected to plead guilty to both charges by way of a plea agreement in the coming weeks, the attorney added.
“The terms of the plea agreement will be disclosed at the time of the plea hearing,” Ellenson said. “We intend to present mitigating evidence that we trust the Court will view favorably at sentencing.” The judge assigned to the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis, is expected to sentence Taylor later this year.
Ellenson thanked the U.S. attorney’s office “for its good faith participation in discussions” in recent weeks. “The shooting … was a tragedy for all parties, most especially teacher Abby Zwerner for whom we wish a complete recovery,” he added.
The federal law that says marijuana users can’t simultaneously possess a firearm has come under increased scrutiny by federal judges in recent years as more states have moved toward weed legalization.
In February, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled the prohibition to be an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. That judge cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision from last year that said restrictions on gun rights can’t go beyond those that were in place at the time of the nation’s founding.
But in the Fourth Circuit, which includes Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina, the restriction is still in place.
Though Ellenson could have conceivably launched a constitutional challenge to the charges, the expected guilty plea would preclude doing that by barring any appeals at all.
Aside from the federal charges, Taylor also faces pending charges in Newport News Circuit Court pertaining to the shooting.
A grand jury indicted Taylor in April with felony child neglect count and a misdemeanor count of “allowing access to firearms by children” for leaving her handgun in a location where the boy was able to get ahold of it.
Newport News prosecutors contend Taylor’s “willful act of omission” demonstrated “a reckless disregard for human life.”
Taylor faces up to six years behind bars on those two state charges, with a trial scheduled for Newport News Circuit Court on Aug. 15.
Meanwhile, a separate special grand jury is meeting to look into the actions of school system administrators and others pertaining to the shooting that garnered headlines around the nation and world.
As the boy sat at his desk in his classroom at about 2 p.m. that day, he suddenly pulled a gun out of his front hoodie pocket, pointed it at Zwerner— seated at a reading table less than 10 feet away — and fired a single round.
The bullet went through the teacher’s left hand — which she held up as the boy opened fire — and then struck her in the upper chest and shoulder, where it remains today.
Zwerner managed to shuttle about 18 students out of the first grade classroom before seeking help at a school office. Police have called the shooting an intentional act.
Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew has said the 6-year-old used his mother’s handgun in the shooting, saying the boy took it to school in his backpack. Deja Taylor has no prior criminal record, according to Ellenson and a check of local court system case information.
In a civil lawsuit filed in April against the Newport News School Board and three administrators, Zwerner contends that Richneck Assistant Principal Ebony Parker ignored several stark warnings that the boy had a gun on him that day.
Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com
