Mother Sentenced to Prison for Marijuana Use While Owning a Firearm
The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia was sentenced Wednesday to 21 months in prison for using marijuana while owning a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law.
Deja Taylor's son took her handgun to school and shot Abby Zwerner in her first-grade classroom in January, seriously wounding the educator. Investigators later found nearly an ounce of marijuana in Taylor's bedroom and evidence of frequent drug use in her text messages and paraphernalia.
Taylor's sentencing in a U.S. District Court offered the first measure of accountability for January's shooting, which added to the national dialogue about gun violence and roiled the military shipbuilding city of Newport News.
Taylor, 26, still faces a separate sentencing in December on the state level for felony child neglect. She pleaded guilty in August to felony child neglect in a Newport News courtroom. Prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of six months.
Zwerner Files $40 Million Lawsuit Against School System
Abby Zwerner is suing the school system for $40 million, claiming that administrators ignored multiple warnings about a 6-year-old student who had a gun. Zwerner, who was shot by the student, spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has undergone four surgeries since the incident. The defendants in the lawsuit include the Newport News School Board, former Superintendent George Parker III, former Richneck Elementary principal Briana Foster Newton, and former Richneck assistant principal Ebony Parker.
"Our main focus is seeking justice for Abby and holding the school system accountable," said attorney Diane Toscano in a statement.
Gun Ownership Restrictions for Drug Users
The recent federal case against Taylor highlights the issue of gun ownership restrictions for drug users, particularly in states where marijuana is legal. While some U.S. courts have ruled against the federal law that bans drug users from owning guns, the law remains in effect in many states and has been used to charge individuals, including Hunter Biden, President Biden's son.
Both Taylor and Biden faced charges under federal statutes for unlawful use of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and making false statements during the purchase of a firearm. Prosecutors in Virginia argued that Taylor's drug abuse was chronic and had a significant impact on his life.
Prosecutors had originally sought a 21-month prison sentence for Taylor.
"This case is not a marijuana case," they wrote. "It is a case that highlights the dangers that arise when consistent and prolonged use of controlled substances is combined with the possession of a lethal firearm."
In June, Taylor accepted a negotiated guilty plea. She was found guilty of possessing a firearm while using marijuana and providing false information about her drug use on a federal form during the purchase of the gun.
Taylor's legal team argued that the U.S. Supreme Court may eventually overturn the federal ban on gun ownership for drug users. For instance, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in August that drug users should not automatically be prohibited from owning guns.
While some lower courts have upheld the ban, the Justice Department has appealed the Fifth Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court. However, the high court has not yet made a decision on whether to hear the case.
Under federal law, individuals are generally prohibited from possessing firearms if they have been convicted of a felony, committed to a mental institution, or are unlawfully using controlled substances, among other factors.
Thousands Convicted Under US Law, Majority Due to Prior Felony Convictions
The United States Sentencing Commission has reported that approximately 8,700 individuals were convicted under a certain law last year. While the commission did not provide specific details on how many were charged due to drug use, it did reveal that nearly 88% of those convicted had prior felony convictions.
Karen O'Keefe, the director of state policies for the pro-legalization group Marijuana Policy Project, highlighted that around 18% of Americans admitted to using cannabis in the past year, while approximately 40% owned guns.
Advocacy for Treatment Instead of Incarceration
In court filings, Taylor's attorneys requested probation and home confinement for their client. They argued that Taylor, who was a victim of domestic abuse and had experienced multiple miscarriages and postpartum depression, needed counseling for various issues, including schizoaffective disorder. They emphasized that Taylor requires treatment for her marijuana addiction, stating that addiction is a disease and incarceration is not the solution.
According to court documents, Taylor's son, who is now 7 years old, has been under the full custody of her grandfather since the shooting incident.
The child explained to authorities that he acquired the gun by climbing onto a drawer and reaching the top of a dresser, where his mother's purse was located. According to a search warrant, his mother stated that she usually stored the gun in a lock box or her purse with a trigger lock in place.
Taylor believed that the gun was in her purse on top of her dresser on the morning of the shooting, as per the police. She mentioned that the key for the trigger lock was under her mattress.
However, investigators reported that they were unable to locate a trigger lock or a lock box during the searches conducted at Taylor's home and her mother's home.
Immediately after the shooting, the child confided in a reading specialist who restrained him, saying, "I shot that (expletive) dead" and "I got my mom's gun last night," according to the search warrants.
This was not the first incident where Taylor's gun was discharged in a public setting, prosecutors revealed. In December, Taylor fired at her son's father after spotting him with his girlfriend.
Prosecutors also added that Taylor smoked two blunts sometime after her son shot his teacher. Additionally, she failed drug tests while awaiting sentencing on the federal charges.
