Deja Taylor to plead guilty in son’s shooting of Virginia teacher

The mother of the 6-year-old Virginia boy who used her gun to wound his teacher, Abigail Zwerner — boasting, “I shot that bitch dead” — is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to a felony charge in connection with the shocking case.

Deja Nicole Taylor, 26, who was charged with child neglect and a misdemeanor count of reckless storing of a firearm, has reached a plea agreement in which she will admit to the felony, her attorney, James Ellenson, told the Daily Press.

Under the plea deal, which avoids a jury trial, the Newport News commonwealth’s attorney’s office will drop the firearm charge and ask Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile to sentence her to no more than six months behind bars, according to the lawyer.

Without the agreement, Taylor faced up to six years in the slammer — five on the child neglect count and another year on the firearm access charge.

If the judge accepts the plea deal, he still has the authority to go beyond the prosecution’s recommendation and sentenced her to the full five years for the felony when he sentences Taylor on Oct. 27, according to the news outlet.

Taylor has also pleaded guilty in federal court to using marijuana while owning a firearm, which is illegal under US law, and lying on a federal background check form when she bought the weapon.

The federal charges carry up to 25 years combined, but prosecutors have agreed to ask for between 18 months and two years. Sentencing on those charges is scheduled for Oct. 18.  

On Monday, Ellenson said that Papile will be able to take Chief US District Judge Mark Davis’ federal sentence “into consideration” and could decide to run the two terms concurrently.

“We don’t want any incarceration, but if we have some incarceration, then we would probably prefer that it happened in the federal system,” he said, according to the outlet.

“Simply because there’s probably more opportunities for rehabilitation and counseling than might be afforded in the state system,” Ellenson added.

The lawyer sought a deal in which Taylor would plead guilty to the misdemeanor and not a felony, but he said prosecutors held firm on the child neglect count, the Daily Press reported.

Ellenson noted that prosecutors stressed that the boy gained access to the firearms despite significant behavioral problems that his mom was or should have been aware of.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua Jenkins declined to comment to the outlet ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.

The first-grader shot his teacher Abigail Zwerner at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Jan. 6.

“I did it … I shot that bitch dead,” the pint-sized pistol packer bragged, according to recently unsealed search warrants. “I got my mom’s gun last night.”

The boy “fired one round that struck Zwerner in her left hand and upper torso,” an affidavit states.

The 25-year-old teacher, who suffered a collapsed lung and other grave injuries, has filed a​ $40 million lawsuit accusing school officials of ignoring multiple warnings about the student leading up to the incident. She has since resigned.

Ellenson has said Taylor believed her gun was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock, adding that it was unclear how her son got a hold of it. 

The attorney has said his client faced mental-health issues after having an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage.

He recently told CNN that Taylor’s son “had extreme emotional issues, and we are all working to see that he improves every day.”