NEWPORT NEWS — The trial of a lawsuit against a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School got underway Monday, with seven jurors and two alternates selected to hear the case.
Abby Zwerner, a former first grade teacher at the school, was shot by a 6-year-old student on Jan. 6, 2023.
Zwerner, now 28, is suing former assistant principal Ebony Parker, asserting that she failed to heed several clear warnings that the boy had a gun in school that day. Her lawsuit is asking for $40 million in damages for the emotional and physical toll from the shooting. Her attorneys made clear Monday that they are planning to ask for that number.
The trial at Newport News Circuit Court will be broadcast in its entirety by Court TV. The coverage will begin with opening statements Tuesday and is slated to run until the final verdict next week. It will also be available on Court TV’s YouTube page.
Attorneys from each side and Circuit Court Judge Matthew W. Hoffman began whittling down a panel of 48 jurors at about 11 a.m., arriving at nine at about 5:30 p.m.
While it appeared that virtually all of the would-be jurors had heard about the Richneck school shooting before this week, candidates were weeded out if they had formed a strong opinion on the case.
Some, for example, said they believed, based on media accounts from “the rumor mill” that Parker should have done more to stop the shooting. Another was excused because he thought an administrator shouldn’t be held responsible.
Another woman was struck from the panel after saying she wouldn’t feel comfortable handing down a $40 million verdict, saying she’d be concerned about that money being taken away from other students in the schools.
“That’s a lot of money,” she said.
When a lawyer for Zwerner, Kevin Biniazan, said the jury is supposed to be akin to “an appraiser,” coming up with the value of the damages but not saying who should pay the bill, the woman said it would still concern her.
At the same time, one of Parker’s lawyers, Sandra Douglas, pressed the panel on whether they would be willing to award no money for Zwerner if that’s what the evidence led them to. She asked if they could make decisions on the facts rather than “sympathy” and if they’d be willing to make the decisions against the will of other people they knew.
Most of the jurors said they would be willing to do that on all counts.
Parker is charged with eight counts of felony child neglect in a criminal case pertaining to the Richneck shooting, with that trial slated to begin in late November.
Douglas pressed the panel on whether they would judge Parker knowing she’s also facing criminal charges. Douglas also asked if those would-be jurors would hold it against Parker if she invoked her right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment.
Hoffman struck two jurors from the panel when they said they would think Parker might have “something to hide” by pleading the Fifth.
Others were struck from the panel if they were closely related to people who work for the school system.
After 17 jurors were deemed qualified to serve, the sides were allowed to cull four each to reach the final nine.
Near the end of the selection process, an attorney for Parker asked for a sidebar, with the attorneys and judge huddling for several minutes.
He later made a motion that he was making a Batson challenge, asserting that Zwerner’s attorneys struck a Black juror as one of their four final strikes for no other reason than his race. Zwerner’s lawyer, Biniazan, noted that the man was the only Black candidate that they struck in their final strikes.
Hoffman denied the Batson challenge.
The panel of nine includes five Black jurors, three white jurors and one of mixed race.
The jury alternates are not known ahead of time. Hoffman said he would wait until the end of the case to draw the names of two of the jurors by chance, planning to remove them from the panel that will enter into deliberations to decide the case.
Opening statements will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com