FORT WORTH, Texas — After dramatic testimony, attorneys are likely to present closing arguments Thursday to jurors tasked with sentencing the 16-year-old who shot and killed a student at Arlington Lamar High School in 2022.
The teen has pleaded “true” to one count of capital murder and three counts of attempted capital murder. In juvenile court, a respondent enters a true plea instead of pleading guilty.
He now faces up to 40 years in prison. WFAA will not identify the respondent because he is a juvenile.
Rashone Jacob, mother to 16-year-old victim Ja'Shawn Poirier, told jurors Wednesday her son's things are in storage. She isn't ready to get rid of his belongings, she said.
"It's just hard to believe this even happened," Jacob said. "I'm technically still trying to wrap my mind around this and I'm stuck in this nightmare, trying to come out of it."
The 16-year-old on trial admitted to twice firing a pistol-grip shotgun into a crowd of students sitting outside Lamar High School on March 20, 2022. The buckshot pellets struck Poirier in the neck and grazed another child's chin.
"All I can remember is just screaming, crying," Jacob recalled.
Defense attorneys say their client should be punished beyond probation, though they're asking jurors to show some mercy. They appeared to angle for the 16-year-old to be sentenced to a special rehabilitation program at Gainesville State School for children convicted of violent crimes.
The teen's lawyers leaned on testimony from psychologists to try and convince jurors the child should not be thrown in an adult prison for 40 years.
The defense also contends the 16-year-old "raised himself." His father, a felon, was recently sentenced to prison for illegally possessing the firearm the teen used in the shooting.
The teen's attorneys have argued his mother, who lives in Baton Rouge, has been mostly absent since the child moved to Arlington to live with his father in 2018.
To challenge that assertion, prosecutors called the woman to testify Wednesday. Olivia Sanford told jurors she and the boy's father disagreed about the degree of punishment the 16-year-old deserves.
"A life was taken," Sanford said. "Even though this is my child and I love him, accountability has to be given."
But in cross-examination, defense attorneys trying to prove Sanford is not as present as she claims noted an inconsistency in the woman's testimony.
Sanford initially told jurors she had three children. She omitted a fourth child, an adult named Jasmine.
"Where is Jasmine now?" attorney Lisa Herrick asked.
"She's in Baton Rouge," Sanford responded.
"Where in Baton Rouge?" Herrick asked.
"I don't know," Sanford concluded.
Sanford went on to testify there was violence in her Baton Rouge home when the 16-year-old lived with her. Police had visited their house, she said.
In another key moment, prosecutors showed jurors a video they say depicts the 16-year-old trying to escape the juvenile detention center. The incident happened hours before jury selection was initially scheduled to begin.
A probation officer testified that the boy asked a guard for toilet paper at 2 a.m. When the guard opened the dorm door, the 16-year-old pushed into the common area and stole the guard's keys.
Guards eventually detained the child. The August incident ultimately delayed the 16-year-old's sentencing by nearly a month.
Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages the 16-year-old sent on the day of the shooting.
"Call the police," one message reads. "They're shooting at my school."
The state's attorneys say that message proves the child was trying to establish an alibi for the crime.
The defense may call more witnesses Thursday. Each side is expected to deliver closing arguments in the afternoon.