About 300 marchers in Powhatan protest Taliaferro verdict
MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH
A march to protest the verdict in killing of Tahliek Taliaferro heads down Old Buckingham Rd. towards the Powhatan Courthouse Sun. March 29, 2009.
Hundreds of placard-carrying protesters circled the Powhatan County Courthouse lawn yesterday, decrying as unjust a trial this month that failed to produce murder verdicts in the shooting death of popular high school athlete Tahliek Taliaferro.
About 300 people -- from 84-year-old Margaret Harris-Manning, to 12-year-old Justin Daniels -- marched peacefully a half-mile along Old Buckingham Road before circling a lawn bearing a statue that honors Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart.
"This was off-limits for us growing up," said Harris-Manning, the first and only black person elected to the county Board of Supervisors. "Nothing good was going to come from coming up here," her parents told her as a child.
Voted out of office in 2004 after her district was reconfigured, she said, Harris-Manning yesterday protested a court verdict that she said was reminiscent of a time she hoped had disappeared.
"Years ago, we were taught to be silent," said her sister, Gladys Morris, who lives in Chesterfield County. "Not after this."
A 12-person jury with one black member last week found Ethan Parrish, 25, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Taliaferro's shooting death and guilty of assault and battery in the wounding of another youth. A second defendant, Parrish's cousin, Joseph "Joey" Parrish, 18, was found guilty of the same two charges and an additional charge of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Ethan Parrish fired six shots June 24 from a semiautomatic rifle toward a car carrying Taliaferro as the vehicle slowly passed the stopped car occupied by Parrish and his cousin. Ethan Parrish testified that he was frightened after seeing a gun and only wanted to scare Taliaferro and others as he held the weapon outside the car from where he was sitting.
After an earlier encounter with Taliaferro and his friends, Ethan Parrish said he knew there would be trouble. He readied the assault rifle and attached an 83-round drum clip. Parrish said that as he fired the gun, the weapon "rose up on me" and he lost control of it, sending rounds into Taliaferro and a friend instead of toward the ground as he intended.
But Stephanie Reynolds, who was driving the vehicle the Parrishes were in, testified that Ethan Parrish had said he was going to "smoke" Taliaferro.
The jury recommended an 11-year sentence for Ethan Parrish; his cousin will be sentenced by a judge.
"What you are seeing here is something that has never happened in Powhatan," said King Salim Khalfani, executive director of the Virginia Conference NAACP. "There are people here from across Virginia."
Khalfani said his organization and others are planning discussions with the FBI about the jury selection process, what may have influenced the jury, and facts of the case that may not have come to light.
"It will be a slow, incremental process," said Rovenia Vaughan of the Powhatan NAACP.
The march was attended by Taliaferro's mother and father and other family members, including grandfather James Taliaferro, 68, who said his grandson's death is painful but familiar. He said two cousins of his died decades ago under circumstances that have never been explained. One was found in the James River, the other, on a roadside.
About 50 white people joined the march.
"There should be more. Where are they?" asked one, Kathy Eheart, an amputee who attended in her wheelchair. "What happened at this courthouse is not right."
Gail Hairston, 54, one of three blacks on a jury pool of more than 40 people, who was not chosen as a juror, said she felt compelled to attend yesterday's march. "It's real sad to me because that jury didn't represent the people. Suppose the shoe had been on the other foot," she said of the racial imbalance.
But Richard S. Johnson Jr., a deacon at Solid Rock Baptist Church in Richmond, stressed that the racial overtones of the case will not resolve deeper injustices.
"We want to send a message that injustice affects all people," said Johnson, who in his prayer to the assembled marchers blessed the Parrishes. "We want to send a message that all people can be better."
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or
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Reader Reactions
I feel bad for these protestors because they got misled from the beginning. There NEVER should have been a first-degree murder charge on this case. First-degree is so hard to prove that to make sure the top conviction was reached, second-degree should have been the charge.
But the black community got it in their heads that these white boys were gonna go down on first-degree, so now they’re mad that a jury of 11 whites and 1 black—picked by both the defense AND PROSECUTION—saw the evidence and decided there was nothing intentional.
Folks, you’re gonna have to get over this. Just because the victim was black doesn’t mean he’s getting shafted. This is 2009—the jury didn’t go back and decide that killing a black boy is alright and we should let the white boys off easy. We have grown a little as a society since 1965. They heard the evidence and based on how the judge told them to decide on a penalty, they came up with involuntary manslaughter.
Time to move on.
JMHokie—thanks for the kind words. I find it hard to follow a story when I keep having to try to figure out if the report really means what it says. I just figure others might also. Also, I think the hysteria that seems to be generated among many when any weapon, much less an “AK”, is mentioned just adds to the hype surrounding what should be a serious subject for discussion in this country.
It would be so helpful if people would realize you can’t take what you see in movies and video games as the gospel truth.
Conce…..oh no, you don’t get off that easy - please define a harsher sentence. What are your guidelines? 11 years and a week is more harsh - do tell us what you think is appropriate.
To ripsomelips: This tragedy did not occur because of some gangsta rap nation, what planet are you on? This has nothing to do with that. No one was trying to be a gangster or thug! Young gangsters would have turned it into a different situation all together. These guys were students, who were trying to live the best they could before graduating from school and leaving this hellified county. This is pure ignorance coming from white boys who were fueled with prejudice, jealousy, hatred and envy of a black boy. This stemmed from a high school fight. But it was rumored that Tahliek was going to get his and this was told by a white boy. And who had the guns again? Stop stereotyping. If you didn’t know the black boys personally then you need to not say anything. Not all of the young black guys are thugs.
Now to the one comment about the NAACP fueling this. NO one is fueling anything. Justice was not served which is the main issue at hand.
This is another case of pure ignorance. If the victims family and the rest of the people involved in this march actually understood the law, they would see how ignorant they look. The boys aren’t getting away with murder, they were still found guilty. Too bad if the family wanted First Degree…the boy wasn’t guilty of that. It’s clear that this WAS NOT premeditated and planned. It was a spur of the moment killing. This is the correct senetencing. The family needs to understand their child was in the wrong place acting the wrong way. This is the case of several young men getting loud with each other and acting “manly” and unfortunately one was killed. The boys that killed that young men are still going to prison for murder.
Susan, no need to apologize at all. You know more about what you’re talking about than 99% of people on this board. Your statements on assault rifle and “assault weapon” were exactly right and have been through several different posts. Its great to have someone else reading and commenting who understands the terminology and how it is misused to give the stories a little bit of extra emotional impact, and scare the less informed readers.
There wouldn’t be a jury or a trial in the case if the victim and the defendants acted like thay had some sense.
Posted by ( Randy ) on March 30, 2009 at 9:44 am
You don’t like the verdict? Do tell us, what you think would constitute justice.
Oh I dunno. A harsher sentence.
JMHokie: I stand corrected on the AK47 and selective fire issue. Sorry about that - I was unaware that there are semi-automatic variants that still carry the AK-47 name.
The Powhatan Today paper has stated several times that the weapon Parrish used was a MAK90 (although they call it a “Mac 90”)and that the Sheriff’s department said it was semi-auto.
To others: I don’t want to argue about what kind of weapon was used. My point is that calling the firearm something it is not in order to convey more emotion on one’s part is not helpful to a real discussion of the events.
If Taliaferro was killed by a .22 round, he wouldn’t be any less dead, and the tragedy would be unchanged.
Everyone wants to argue over the gun and the race of the victim and the denfendants. Every parent should teach their children to avoid trouble, not to go looking for it. The victim and the defendants wanted to win this fight and get the last word in. They’re are mean people in this world our kids need to aware of that.
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