RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — After more than four hours of jury selection, the prosecution and defense made their opening statements Monday in the trial of the man accused of the shooting death of 18-year-old Shawn Jackson following his high school graduation in Richmond.
Shots rang out in front of Richmond’s Altria Theater on Tuesday, June 6, 2023 as people gathered following the end of Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony. A total of seven people were shot, two of whom — Jackson and his stepfather, 36-year-old Renzo Smith — were killed.
20-year-old Amari Pollard is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection to Jackson’s death. He had also previously been charged in connection to Smith’s death, but those charges were dropped. Pollard is not facing charges in connection to the five other people who were shot.
As the prosecution and defense gave their opening statements in court Monday, both sides admitted there had previously been an ongoing dispute between Pollard and Jackson. However, the prosecution claimed there was no altercation on June 6.
The prosecution claimed that Pollard was at the graduation ceremony to see a family member but left to get a gun from his car, approached Jackson in Monroe Park and shot him six times — twice in his head, twice in his neck and two in his back.
While the prosecution argued that the killing was intentional and malicious, Pollard’s attorney maintained that it was an act of self-defense — and claimed that there were far more people armed at the event that day besides just Pollard.
Pollard’s attorney claimed that Jackson and Smith were in a group with three of Jackson’s friends, and that all five had guns. The defense claimed the group saw Pollard in Monroe Park and approached him — Jackson flashed a gun under his robe, told Pollard “I’m going to crush you” and called the rest of the group over — causing Pollard to run away while hearing someone say “shoot him.”
According to the defense, Jackson grabbed Pollard while Smith had a gun pointed at him — which is when Pollard started shooting, killing Jackson. The defense also alleged that one of Jackson’s friends tried to shoot Pollard, but shot and killed Smith and has since been charged with reckless handling of a firearm.
According to the Richmond Police Department, a total of four guns were recovered from the scene of the shooting. One was tied to Pollard, another was tied to a person uninvolved in the shooting and the other two remain unaccounted for.
Pollard was shaking in the courtroom as the defense recounted the events of June 6.
While three witnesses took the stand near the tail end of day 1 of the trial, most of the day was spent trying to find an impartial jury — a group of people who the prosecution and defense attorneys both feel confident would be able to responsibly and fairly rule in this high-profile case.
About halfway through the day, the judge said that – for any potential jurors who hadn’t figured it out – this case was the infamous shooting following Huguenot High School’s graduation last June that made national headlines. One potential juror’s jaw dropped — others scanned the room and directly at Pollard.
During the questioning, potential jurors had to confirm they weren’t biased in any way regarding things like prospective law enforcement testimony — and especially that they didn’t know details of this case. This took quite a few waves of private questioning.
Each time the judge asked people to raise their hands if they had read about this case in the past, nearly every hand would shoot up.
Jury selection alone took about five hours, an amount of time 8News Legal Analyst Russ Stone said this is fairly normal for cases like this. Jurors are not supposed to have significant knowledge of any case they’re called for, so this standard was very tricky to meet for a case of this scale.
Tameeka Jackson Smith, Jackson’s mother, is expected to testify tomorrow. Because she is a witness, she was not allowed in the courtroom as her presence could interfere with the case.
