Media coverage and outrage over controversial verdicts in the shooting death of popular Powhatan High School student Tahliek Taliaferro may have influenced jurors while they deliberated the sentence of one of the men they convicted in the case. Four jurors independently confirmed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch in recent interviews that as many as three jurors viewed or read media accounts during the sentencing phase of the trial. They said those jurors told the group they were fearful of the repercussions that might ensue from a light sentence for shooter Ethan Parrish because it could further inflame the community and possibly endanger jurors.

Stephanie C. Reynolds, who a year ago faced a murder charge in the shooting death of Tahliek Taliaferro, walked away from the Powhatan County courthouse yesterday a free woman. Reynolds, 20, never fired a gun or made a threat in connection with the high school athlete’s death. But yesterday, a judge approved a plea agreement in which Reynolds acknowledged guilt to three misdemeanors in connection with Taliaferro’s slaying.

The FBI is working with the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the slaying of high school student Tahliek Taliaferro for possible civil-rights violations, law-enforcement officials said yesterday.

Powhatan County’s commonwealth’s attorney asked yesterday that a first-degree murder charge against a key witness in the shooting death of Tahliek Taliaferro be reduced.

Justin Jones said his view of Powhatan County changed forever when a jury decided that last summer’s shooting death of his friend Tahliek Taliaferro was an act of involuntary manslaughter, not first-degree murder. “Justice has not been served the way it should have,“ Jones, a senior at Powhatan High School who played football with Taliaferro, said yesterday.

POWHATAN—Closing arguments in the case of two cousins charged in the shooting death of Tahliek Taliaferro finished at 6:30 p.m. The jury will return Monday for deliberations. This morning, one of the cousins testified in Powhatan County Circuit Court that the shooting was an accident. Ethan Parrish, 25, told the court that he feared for his own safety when he shot Taliaferro on June 24. Today was the third day of the first-degree murder trial for Parrish and his cousin, 18-year-old Joseph “Joey” Parrish.

Friends: Slain teen was not in pursuit Prosecution rests in Powhatan trial of two in Taliaferro killing Friends of Tahliek Taliaferro testified yesterday that while the teenager may have wanted to fight Joseph “Joey” Parrish, Taliaferro was not pursuing him when Ethan Parrish, Joey’s cousin, opened fire. Courtney Jones, a friend of Taliaferro’s, testified in Powhatan County Circuit Court that shortly before the June 24 shooting, Taliaferro said of the Parrishes, “Let’s go fight them. Let’s get them.“