Judge rejects new trial request for Richmond Graduation Day shooter

RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond Judge Reilly Marchant refused to grant a new trial to Amari Pollard.

During a hearing on Friday, Judge Marchant denied Pollard's defense team's motion to vacate the guilty plea Pollard.

Pollard previously pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony related to the June 2023 Graduation Day shooting death of Huguenot High School graduate Shawn Jackson. He was sentenced to 43 years, with 25 years of active prison time.

Last month, Attorney Jason Anthony claimed he failed Pollard during his trial and did not offer Pollard proper legal advice after Judge Marchant told the jury they could not consider Anthony's self-defense argument. He also said the judge displayed evidence of bias against Pollard and erred in ruling he could not claim self-defense.

In court on Friday, Anthony testified under oath that after Judge Marchant tossed out the jury's self-defense instruction in February, he had a private conversation with his client in which Pollard asked about his options moving forward.

Anthony said that he told Pollard, "You're f*****" and "You got nothing" which forced Pollard to accept the plea deal.

Looking back, Anthony said he should have told his client they could continue defending a murder charge on the basis that no malice was involved.

However, Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin said she "strongly objected" the defense's motion, calling it "completely and utterly without merit."

McEachin pointed to case law which sets a high standard to prove a miscarriage of justice and claimed nothing of the sort was present in this case.

The city's top prosecutor said the trial was fair and reliable and it's too bad Pollard's attorneys "didn't like" the outcome and were "emotional" when they advised their client to accept the guilty plea.

Marchant said he saw no obvious miscarriage of justice in this case and essentially disputed every one of the defense's arguments. The judge said he stood by his decision to instruct the jury not to consider self-defense.

As to the bad advice Anthony alleged to give, Marchant said he's not convinced that Pollard's lawyers are incompetent. Rather, he suggested they're questioning themselves after the fact.

Following the ruling, Anthony said he thought the judge made another mistake and planned to appeal his decision.

McEachin said she was pleased with the result.

This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip .

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