Jury recommends 11 year-sentence for Ethan Parrish in Powhatan slaying
VIDEO: Williams: Taliaferro verdict isn't justice
At the request of Powhatan County's commonwealth's attorney, a first-degree murder charge against a key witness in the shooting death of Tahliek Taliaferro was reduced yesterday.
At the same time, friends and family of the slain teen marched outside the courthouse to protest the verdict against two men and their sentences in his death.
During a 10-minute preliminary hearing in District Court, Commonwealth's Attorney Robert B. Beasley asked that Stephanie Reynolds' first-degree murder charge be reduced to involuntary manslaughter. Beasley also asked that another charge, use of a firearm, be dropped. Judge Valentine W. Southall Jr. accepted the prosecutor's motions. A grand jury will consider the involuntary manslaughter charge when it meets on April 14. At yesterday's hearing, Reynolds' bond was set at $5,000. She had been held without bond.
Throughout the day yesterday, about 40 friends and family of Taliaferro marched in front of the courthouse. Kaa Caputo, Tahliek's mother, organized the protest, which she said was timed to Reynolds' hearing.
Reynolds, who was the driver of the car that shooter Ethan Parrish was riding in, testified for the prosecution this week in the murder trials of Ethan Parrish and his cousin Joseph "Joey" Parrish. Both were convicted of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
A jury recommended a sentence of 10 years for Ethan Parrish for the shooting death, plus another year for assault and battery for the wounding of another young man, Courtney Jones. Ethan Parrish will be sentenced next month. Joey Parrish's sentence will be determined by the judge because he was a minor at the time of the shooting.
Along the road outside the courthouse, marchers carried signs reading, "Tahliek deserves justice" and "Justice was not served."
One of the marchers, the Rev. Nichole Phillips, said the Taliaferro family was "trying to go with the justice system, and the system failed them."
"This is a racial issue, but this has not divided the races here," she said. "This is bigger. This is about justice."
Caputo said she wants to keep the case fresh in people's minds "while this is the No. 1 news topic. We don't want to wait to do something after this dies down. Justice was not served."
She plans another march at 5 p.m. Sunday, from a nearby church to the courthouse. The group also will march at the courthouse April 14, when Ethan Parrish's sentencing date is set.
"My son, an innocent life, is gone," Caputo said.
She said she's had no contact with anyone from the Parrish family and that no one has apologized for Taliaferro's death.
"I just feel sorry for them," she said. "That's all I can say."
Contact Jamie C. Ruff at (434) 223-3678 or jruff@timesdispatch.com.
News Editor Paige Mudd contributed to this report.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement