Did Ebony Parker Put Children at Risk?

追加: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]I have to give credit to both lawyers for their openings in the Ebony Parker case yesterday. Both of the openings were short and to the point, and I think they both did a reasonable job of presenting their theories of the case.

[00:00:16]I'll have more in just a moment.

[00:00:24]Hi, Tony Dit here. Formerly, I was a Missouri attorney in active practice.

[00:00:29]Then I retired. Then I unretired and started a YouTube channel. And I bring you all kinds of stuff about trials and the law. So no legal advice is given, but stay tuned. This is what we're talking about today.

[00:00:45]As we begin coverage of the criminal trial of Ebony Parker in Virginia.

[00:00:49]Remember, this case already produced a major civil verdict. A jury found Parker liable and awarded teacher Aby's earner $10 million in damages. This is different. In civil court, the burden is only a prepoundonderance of the evidence, more likely than not. In this criminal case, the Commonwealth must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:01:13]Parker is charged with eight felony counts of child neglect after prosecutors say she ignored repeated warnings that a six-year-old student had a gun before he shot Aby's Warner at Richneck Elementary School. The state led by prosecutor Josh Jenkins argues Parker failed to search the child, failed to call police, and failed to take action despite multiple alerts from staff. Defense attorney Curtis Rogers says the shooting was unforeseeable and that others at the school also had opportunities to act. Josh Jenkins opened for the state. And again, I thought he did a reasonable job of laying out the state's theory of the case. Let's listen to a little bit of that. On January 6th of 2023 in Rich Neck Elementary here in Newport News, there was one and only one person who had both the authority to take action in a crisis and the knowledge that a crisis was underway.

[00:02:20]My name is Josh Kings. I am the Commonwealth attorney assigned to prosecute this case. I'm assisted by my parallegal at council table, Megan May, and I thank all of you, as the judge has said, for your service. I know it has been inconvenient to be a juror, but this case is important to all involved, and I thank you for doing your duty, and I know that you will. On January 6 of 2023, parents of children who went to Richmond Elementary and the children themselves woke up to a normal day.

[00:02:58]They packed lunches, got on the school bus, got in their cars, one walked to school that you'll hear from.

[00:03:09]And to them, nothing was different that day.

[00:03:15]And as the parents watched their children backpacks and towes walk into that building, those parents entrusted the care of those children to that school.

[00:03:30]They had a promise that when I bring my child into school, the school will keep them safe.

[00:03:41]But the evidence will show you that that's not exactly what happened.

[00:03:48]I understand and perhaps you understand that in this incident a teacher was shot.

[00:03:55]That is a horrific tragedy and I do feel for Miss Werner. But this case is not about Miss Worth.

[00:04:04]This case is about the children who lived through this event.

[00:04:10]Now, that was a really smart and important distinction for him to make.

[00:04:16]You may wonder why. Well, because likely everybody sitting on that jury knows that Abby Zerner has already been compensated. She's already won a verdict in her case. So, she's not in need of any help or assistance from the state here.

[00:04:35]This is about the kids because nobody who witnesses violence comes through it unscathed.

[00:04:43]That's one of the reasons why soldiers who come back from places like Iraq and Afghanistan have such a difficult time adjusting because they have seen things that no person should have to see. One of the reasons why we should have some compassion for them and and be kind to them even when they not aren't necessarily kind to us.

[00:05:07]They have gone through a lot and these children have gone through a lot. They saw their teacher come very close to being killed.

[00:05:18]And the point that the state will make here is we're trying to protect children in the future. Even though it may be unstated, that's clearly the message that's coming through by saying, "I'm here for the kids."

[00:05:33]>> That's what this case is about.

[00:05:37]You will hear from that teacher because she witnessed the events, but she is a witness.

[00:05:45]The victim of this crime are the children.

[00:05:51]The defendant, Dr. Ebony Parker, was the assistant principal at Richmond Elementary at the time. She was the person who was paid to take care of those children.

[00:06:06]And around 11:40 a.m., Miss Warner had seen a particular child who you will learn has a long history, a long history of discipline issues of which Dr. Parker was already aware well before January 6 of 2023.

[00:06:30]>> Current awareness or lack thereof is apt to be an issue in the trial. because I'm pretty sure that the defense is going to argue she wasn't really aware. She was aware of his history, but she wasn't aware of everything that was going on on that day. And you know, there's a lot on both sides there that that could come into play here. You're going to hear that he showed it to another brave student who then reported young RR reported exactly what he had seen to a teacher.

[00:07:06]He was terrible, understandably shaken, crying when he reported what he seen.

[00:07:19]At 12:30, that reading specialist goes back to Dr. Parker and says, "I think he has the gun in his jacket.

[00:07:33]Do not his mom will be here soon."

[00:07:36]>> This is similarly important because there are multiple opportunities here and in multiple instances, she doesn't do anything. In fact, she doesn't do anything really until Abby is shot. So, there is some good evidence that the state can present here, but there is also some counterveiling evidence that will come into play that may affect how the jury decides this case. I can only imagine how that may our feel.

[00:08:10]But around 100 p.m., a counselor goes to Dr. Parker and says, "I want to search the child. Can I search his person?"

[00:08:22]She says, "No."

[00:08:25]Mama bears.

[00:08:29]For over an hour, multiple people went to Dr. her apartment and told her there was an armed child at an elementary school, running around with, interacting with children in the classroom, children on the playground, children in the hallways, multiple warnings brought directly to her.

[00:08:56]She says, "Do nothing."

[00:08:59]And that right there is really the strength of the state's case. The fact that there were multiple opportunities and she did nothing each time this issue was brought to her. Now, it could be that based on her history with the child, she did not believe the child was going to do anything. She may have believed that it was a toy gun. She may have believed that the children didn't see what they saw.

[00:09:26]Who knows what went into her thinking, but for whatever reason, she didn't act.

[00:09:33]And that is the key thing the state is making the point about because the failure to act is what ultimately caused the incident.

[00:09:44]At the moment that he fires that weapon, there are 19 children right there.

[00:09:56]And that's why I tell you that this case is not about Miss Werner. This case is about the 19 children whose lives were endangered in that moment but in the moments before as well.

[00:10:10]Those children were some of them between the gun and this order.

[00:10:19]Some of them a slight movement of the gun could have hit a child instead of misunder. They're right there. Some standing shouldertosh shoulder with the shooter. All of them, you'll learn, watch as their teacher clutched her chest and bled before these children, screaming in horror, ran across the hallway to another teacher's classroom. And Miss Werner ran to the office and collapsed on the floor.

[00:10:57]Where at that point was Dr. Parker?

[00:11:01]She had locked herself down in her office.

[00:11:05]Was the school on lockdown? Not yet.

[00:11:09]Still no.

[00:11:12]But a few minutes after Miss Warner enters the room, a receptionist, Miss does finally put the school on lockdown.

[00:11:23]Those facts and the way they are characterized are going to make it very difficult for Parker's council to defend inaction.

[00:11:36]It is sometimes more difficult to defend inaction than action.

[00:11:41]The theory being you could have done something.

[00:11:45]And that's not necessarily a bad theory, but it doesn't take into consideration the fact that a principal has all kinds of different duties and she's going to testify or she did testify in the uh original trial that she was busy working on testing materials and those have to be secured.

[00:12:09]So you can sort of understand when you hear the whole picture why things happened the way they did from her perspective. And we have to remember that her perspective is important because she's the one charged with in action here. I'm going to finish the opening here for the def for the prosecution and then we'll pick up and see what the defense has to say.

[00:12:33]>> And so I'm just giving you that heads up. We're going to be throwing a lot of initials at you, a lot of details at you, and when the judge instructs you on the law at the end of this process, you'll have to remember all those details in order to decide this.

[00:12:52]So, I do ask you to really pay attention to the witnesses and I suggest that you take videos to help refresh your own memory because at the end you will have heard a lot from a lot of different people.

[00:13:11]January 6, 2023, 20 students went into Miss Werner's classroom and their lives were forever changed.

[00:13:24]The trauma that they experienced is unspeakable and you will hear from some of the parents about that trauma.

[00:13:35]That shouldn't happen.

[00:13:38]And the one person who had both the authority and knowledge that a crisis was ongoing is the reason that it happened.

[00:13:48]And we think at the end the evidence will show you exactly.

[00:13:55]>> Now the state's opening statement went for about 21 minutes, but the defense opening statement is going to be shorter and it's going to be more direct. In my opinion, I think he does a formidable job here of laying out her theory of the case.

[00:14:13]Whether you agree with it or not, he does a good job with it and he deserves some kudos for it.

[00:14:21]>> I'd like to give an opening statement.

[00:14:23]>> Yes, your honor.

[00:14:25]>> May I please the court? Mr. Jenkins. Uh ladies and gentlemen, she found out yesterday my name is Curtis Rogers. I along with attorney Dr. Parker.

[00:14:39]Ladies and gentlemen, we have heard that my Dr. Parker is accused of the crime of felony child abuse.

[00:14:50]But there is one thought that I want you to keep in the forefront of your mind during this trial.

[00:14:58]U and that is based on their actions there wasn't a gun based on their actions there wasn't talks about um a lot and this this ongoing crisis and that um Dr. Parker was the only person that was that had the knowledge of the crisis and the authority to act. I would submit that's that's not accurate. It's not true.

[00:15:27]Um, think about it. Who who was the one person that was there from the beginning today?

[00:15:38]And that was this one.

[00:15:42]>> Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Hey, he's blaming the victim.

[00:15:47]You can't do that. That's a bad look for a defense attorney.

[00:15:51]But in this case, he's not blaming the victim because the victim in this case is the children.

[00:15:59]And Abby Zwer as the person in charge of that classroom had a duty to protect those children as well.

[00:16:09]And while she took some action and reported it up the chain of command, she can be faulted too. And that's what they're going to do in this case is they're going to fault her for not taking effective action early enough. And so I think that's something that he tried very hard to make clear here. The other thing he made clear is that Dr. Parker is not the only person with knowledge of this crisis. There are multiple people who are going to come in and testify that this kid had a gun.

[00:16:48]And if they're in, you know, if they're knowledgeable about it, they're the ones reporting it, then clearly she is not the only one with knowledge of the crisis. And he's right. And that was a mistake by the state prosecutor. He should never have said that. He should have said she the only person with the authority to deal with it. after multiple people with knowledge of the crisis brought the information to her.

[00:17:14]But he didn't ask me to craft his opening statement either.

[00:17:20]It's really important when you start out with any group of people that you are trying to persuade that you get caught telling the truth at least three times. And so now, at least it certainly looks like the defense has pointed out, hey, maybe you can't trust their recitation of events here. And that is an important thing for a defense attorney to do. And again, like it or not, he has a job of defending this woman. And it's really a lot more important than it is in the civil case because in the civil case she was insured or or the school was insured.

[00:18:04]And in any rate, there was a fund of money available to pay the judgment in that case. And it's not a situation where the she's going to be impoverished by that. But in this situation, she had to hire a private attorney. Nobody is paying for this except Dr. Parker.

[00:18:25]And think about what effect this probably had on her employment, her ability to get work. She has probably been in crisis in terms of financial planning since this all took place. To certain extent, she's a victim too. Just keep that in mind. And remember here they are trying to take away her freedom, not her money.

[00:18:52]And when you take away someone's liberty, that is something that definitely requires that you meet that burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:19:03]>> And you need to understand that right now, Dr. Parker stands presumed to be innocent. Right now she sent the commonwealth has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she's guilty of the allegations that Leo has to prove that Dr. Park responsible for the care of Dr. Parker and they have to prove that Dr. Parker will handle the character so long and comfortable as to show reckless disregard of human life.

[00:19:47]Who was the person that saw these events from beginning to end?

[00:19:52]That was the teacher, Miss Warner. Who was another person that pretty much saw everything um before Dr. Park was that was the reading specialist. There was another person that saw everything from definitely product and that was Mr. B.

[00:20:10]If wants to choose Dr. Parker, what about these other people that had direct contact with this child JT?

[00:20:21]It is my belief that Dr. Parker is guilty of these crimes and I will have to make conclusion of this trial to find Dr. [ __ ] and then I need you to always consider based upon their actions then what's based upon their actions and what's >> so now the defense attorney has just made the same mistake that the state's attorney made which is he's not exactly shooting square with the jury here when he says all these other people had noticed and because of that they ought to be held accountable too.

[00:21:08]Why aren't they being charged is essentially what he asked there. The problem with it is schools are hierarchical organizations. They have rules and some of the rules dictate that only certain people have the ability to make certain decisions.

[00:21:25]And one of those decisions is whether or not to search a child, whether or not to go handson with a child, because children have rights, too. And the little boy that did the shooting had rights. And as a result, these teachers did not feel it was their place to go in and search the child. As the prosecutor pointed out, several of them asked, "Let me search his backpack. let me search the things what that he's carrying with him.

[00:21:58]Let me search this stuff. And Dr. Parker allegedly said no. So, there are going to be a lot of facts that the jury is going to have to sift through in this case to try to figure out exactly where the fault lies and whether there is criminal liability here for Dr. Parker.

[00:22:19]Now, I have to be honest about this and say that I'm ambivalent about this case.

[00:22:25]Ordinarily, in a prosecution, something like Banfield, where there's clear crime that's been committed, I'm not absolutely certain that the state exercising its power against Dr. Parker is the right thing to do.

[00:22:43]I understand why many people feel that it is the right thing to do.

[00:22:48]I do believe that the children need to be protected and that there needs to be an example set, but there was an example set already with the civil judgment, but that's kind of a one-off thing and it has to be defended on appeal.

[00:23:04]So, I can see both sides of this case, and I think it'll be interesting as we follow along to figure out exactly where the fault really lies from a criminal standpoint because again, the state has the burden of proof and the plaintiff had the burden of proof in Aby's Warner's case, but it was only more probable than not probable.

[00:23:31]essentially what lawyers will refer to as a 51% standard, but it it really isn't a 51% standard.

[00:23:40]Even in civil cases, jurors want to be certain that they're right. This is a criminal case, so they want to be doubly certain that they're right. And I think this is going to be a difficult case and that the outcome is certainly in question at this point. So stay tuned as we follow this case. It will be one for the books, I think. Thanks for watching.

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