Powhatan needs time to sort out verdict, sheriff says

Almost a week after the verdict, a small-town community is still trying to come to terms with a jury's decision in the killing of popular 18-year-old student Tahliek Taliaferro.

His family and friends, along with members of the Powhatan NAACP and other groups, will march today at 5 p.m. from Hollywood Baptist Church in Powhatan to the county courthouse in protest of Monday's verdict. The jury -- made up of 11 white members and one black member -- convicted cousins Ethan and Joseph "Joey" Parrish of involuntary manslaughter rather than first-degree murder.

Anger over the verdict and questions of whether race played a role in the decision have swirled throughout the county since Monday as the community struggles to make sense of the outcome.

"This is one of those times when a jury returns a verdict that surprises everyone," said Steven D. Benjamin, a Richmond defense attorney and officer for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

"What people don't understand is that the criminal-justice system isn't designed to answer the question, 'What is the value of any person's life?'" he said. "It's not designed to help the grieving process or provide closure to victims and their families."

Powhatan Sheriff Greg Neal said he regretted the tumult the outcome has caused but said it was likely unavoidable.

"There was no way this was not going to come out as an emotional trial," he said.

Neal said he didn't think race played a role in the killing, though he acknowledged he wondered about it during the investigation.

"I initially thought that race very well could have been a factor," he said. "I think that when you have victims who happen to be African-Americans in this case, and when the suspects that ultimately end up being charged are white, and when you hear that they argued previously, it has to cross your mind."

Asked if he thought the Powhatan community would soon recover, Neal said, "What do you call soon? Is it a day, or a week? Then no.

"But will we get better and move on? Yes."

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According to his own testimony at trial, Ethan Parrish, 25, shot Taliaferro and wounded Courtney Jones, then 15, after a run-in at a local Sheetz convenience store and gas station.

A long-standing feud between Joey Parrish, 18, and Taliaferro sparked the exchange at the gas station that spilled over onto a nearby road where the shooting occurred.

The jury ultimately found that Ethan Parrish accidentally killed Taliaferro after losing control of a semiautomatic assault rifle he claims to have fired to scare them as their car passed.

That same jury recommended a sentence of 10 years for Ethan Parrish for Taliaferro's death and an additional year for wounding Jones. He 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.

Ethan Parrish testified in court that he pulled the trigger after he saw someone wielding a weapon in the car Taliaferro was riding in. A BB gun and baseball bats were found inside the vehicle, though other passengers deny the BB gun was brandished by anyone.

Parrish said he pulled the trigger six times, firing six unaimed shots. The first two went into the ground and the next four into the vehicle. The gun "rose up on me," he said in court. "I lost control of it."

Benjamin, who did not attend the trial, said that if the jury believed that Ethan Parrish did not intend to shoot into the car, it made the right decision in finding him guilty of the lesser charge.

"It's obvious from the anger that the community is very confused about what this means," Benjamin said. "I think there is a sense that the verdict devalues the life of the young man that was lost. It's important for the community to know that that is simply not true."

Kaa Caputo, Taliaferro's mother, said the jury's ruling that the shooting was accidental caused the community's surge of anger.

"Justice wasn't served," she said. "It wasn't fair for them to just give them a slap on the wrist for what they've done."

A first-degree murder charge against Stephanie Reynolds, who drove the vehicle the Parrishes were in that night, was reduced last week to involuntary manslaughter. A grand jury will hear her case April 14.

The Parrishes were found not guilty of six other charges.

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Theodore Bruns, who represented Ethan Parrish, said it's difficult for the public to understand the jury's decision without having attended the trial and hearing from all the witnesses.

"I think if people had any idea what was actually testified to in that courtroom, they'd have a much easier time understanding -- if not agreeing with -- how the jury got where they were," he said.

"And the shame of it is, I think, that the community has been left with this impression that this is some sort of a travesty when I think an argument could be made that this jury did something that most juries don't -- they fulfilled their promise to listen to the evidence that came out in the courtroom and not the stuff they were hearing outside."

Powhatan Commonwealth's Attorney Robert B. Beasley Jr. declined to comment.

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.