May 21, 2026
BREAKING: Assistant Principal Sobs In Court As Judge Dismisses All Charges Against Her, In First Grade Shooting
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RSS Feed A Virginia judge shocked the courtroom, and the woman charged with 8 counts of felony child neglect, by dismissing all charges against former assistant principal, Dr. Ebony Parker. The prosecution rested its case after calling dozens of witnesses, including the first grade teacher who survived a bullet wound to the chest, maintaining that Parker failed to act appropriately after being warned that a 6-year-old student brought a loaded gun to school. After the defense asked for dismissal before beginning its case, the judge announced she was striking all counts against Parker, saying the court “is of the legal opinion that this is not a crime.”
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Thursday, May twenty first, and the trial of Ebony Parker is over, and it ended before the jury even showed up to court this morning. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. This is a closely watched trial. This is a historic trial in a lot of ways and robes. It is over not because of a mistrial and not because of an acquittal.
00:00:29
Speaker 3: No, it is because the judge ruled that the prosecution did not prove its case. The defense, as is typical, asked for the judge to throughout the case based on what the prosecution offered. I think they called a total of sixteen witnesses and I was frankly surprised, but the judge said, we're done here.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: This judge continued to surprise us throughout quite frankly, and I say, throughout the trial. It wasn't that long.
00:00:58
Speaker 3: It was a couple of days.
00:00:59
Speaker 1: It was two days of testimony.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: Actually they did jury selection on Monday, two days of testimony, and today they didn't even get the testimony for the most part when they started this morning. A reminder, this was a very important trial for Roads because we can expect, unfortunately, to see more shootings to see more school shootings, and this is the first one, at least anybody can find in which a school administrator is being taken to task held criminally responsible for it.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Yes, and we have seen trials in the past where law enforcement has been held responsible and a jury has chosen not to convict law enforcement. That was specifically in the Uvaldi case. We've seen parents held criminally responsible, and that actually has I shouldn't I don't want to use the word worked, but certainly there have been convictions for parents who were held criminally responsible for their children's act of violence. But it looks as though now going after police, going after school administrators, so far it's zero for too, I believe at least. And so this could have been and certainly is still precedent setting. This could deter prosecutors from pursuing charges like these in the future.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: Say, and this is Ebony Parker, who was an assistant principle being held responsible for a six year old kid who shot his teacher. This was a story that made international headlines back in January of twenty twenty three. Kid brings a gun to school, shoots his teacher, She survives. She has won a ten million dollar judgment against the school district and Abney Park in particular, so that at least part of it is done. Butbes I don't know. She was told, she was told more than once that a kid possibly had a gun at school. The defense was arguing, it's several other people had the authority and the ability if they knew or thought to remove that kid. The prosecution was saying, actually it fell to her to act.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: So where we land here.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: Robes were used to prosecution putting on a case, and then it's customary the defense gets up and they ask for a mistriale. Five ninety eight percent of the time it's it's the judge tonight. No, this was different robes in that they weren't just making an argument about something not going right in the trial. There were questions about some jurors and some questions they had the jury had been tainted. They had talked about miss trial the day before. The judge made a much different and definitive determination here is that you know what, you don't even have the right, mister prosecutor, to charge her with a crime.
00:03:33
Speaker 1: It's not a crime.
00:03:35
Speaker 2: And unless the legislature decides to change statute, we shouldn't.
00:03:40
Speaker 1: Even be here.
00:03:41
Speaker 3: She dismissed all eight counts of felony child abuse against doctor Ebeny Parker. And look, the reaction from doctor Parker was palpable, it was audible. And can you imagine she spent her life in service of children and certainly chose a job in education. That is we know we come from educators. This isn't about making money, this isn't about being powerful. Typically when we see people get involved in our educational system, it is for the love of learning and the love of children. So imagine being this woman, doctor Ebney Parker, building her life, her career as an assistant principle, working her way up, and to suddenly now be facing criminal charges. She was looking at a potential of forty years behind bars. I can't imagine the pressure and that surreal feeling of all of a sudden being held criminally responsible for the actions of a six year old. That had to be overwhelming.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: And I am pretty sure she has spent countless nights wishing she had done something different. Absolutely, there is no question she was told like, just from a human stand does it rise to criminal behavior? The judge clearly said no. But Robes was that was a lot that could have happened differently that day. You could e and argue robes the year before, given what was going on with this kid. This kid put another teacher in the chokehold. The year before, this kid had banged another teacher's cell phone. This kid was all, okay, thank you. I was about to use a stronger word. That's a good way to no. No, no, that's correct, babe. But to the point they had to separate him. He was on an amended schedule at school. We are changing our whole schedule to adjust to his behavior. This was they were aware of this. If there's anybody in that school that somebody says, we think he has a box cutter, we think he has scissors, you go isolate that kid. Absolutely.
00:05:39
Speaker 3: But I also believe, and I do think this had to have played into it, because look, when we see the headlines and we first read about the story, all of our jaws collectively dropped. I think most Americans, most people, even most parents, couldn't imagine that a six year old had not only the knowledge of a gun and the capability of loading and firing a gun, but actually having the wilful act and desire of harming someone with a gun. I think it just flies in the face of what we expect from first graders. And so if you hear a first grader might have a loaded gun, I can see why maybe you wouldn't take it that seriously. You wouldn't think that it would end or lead to the violence we saw it lead to. Maybe if a fifth grader or a sixth grader, maybe she would have taken it more seriously. I have to imagine that, Yes, she was busy as she as we heard in her interview with the head of human resources for the school district. We got to see that play out in court yesterday and where her head was. But I have to think that that played into it. What do you did she really think? Did any of us really believe a first grader was capable of that kind of violence.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: We didn't because we weren't in that elementary school with that kid for the past two years before this incident. Nope, I'm sorry, babe, All bets are off. There was a teacher there, His kindergarten teacher was going to quit unless they removed.
00:07:03
Speaker 1: Him from the class.
00:07:04
Speaker 2: She did say that she needed help to get out of a chokehold from this kid when he was five. Nope, I hear you now, all of us hearing the story night. There's no way a six year old first we first heard it. Man, he brought a gun to school, he was playing with it, accidentally shot somebody. Nope, this kid did this with intent. He was a constant menace. Yes, I accept what you're saying for everybody outside the school, robes for everybody in that school. They seemed to have good knowledge that this kid was potentially capable of something like this.
00:07:38
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I will say, as disruptive and as confusing as the testimony was and the defense's constant objections to some of that testimony and evidence, they did make excellent points to each person who got up and talked about what happened that day. Why didn't you separate the child? Why didn't you police? Why didn't you do something to protect your students? And that was incredibly effective because each look, the mode of operation might be on any other given day with any other student. Yeah, you send them to the principal's office. You send them to the office you called. She didn't even do that, So it's interesting. Look, there were missteps along the way, from the teacher who unfortunately was shot, to other fellow teachers, who heard students talking, who knew potentially that this kid, this kid that they were all very well aware of, had a gun at school, and everyone just kind of waited for someone else to do something. And then I get the buck stops at a certain point. But to not have anyone else, any other adult, take any form of responsibility and to make her criminally responsible, I get that. And the defense did a good job at laying that foundation.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: This was a collective failure, for sure. This was a collective failure at that school. And this is I mean, their handbook even said it. It laid out right. If you hear about this, if you hear about this, it laid out roads. What I'm saying is since nineteen ninety nine, right, have that, right, Columbine, Since that year, people change how they view threats at schools and they just don't mess around. And maybe we're at the point now, Robes that we need to lower that age of who we think could be a threat, because yes, a six year old intentionally shot his teacher, brought a gun to school and loaded that sucker. So this is going to be I say, precedent setting.
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Maybe not.
00:09:39
Speaker 2: We don't have the precedent yet, but Robes, this is one the judge set up there. There is no precedent for what we're dealing with right now and right now on the books. The way it is, she did not commit a crime based on Virginia law. Therefore we gotta go. And if the legs she said, I did not make any determination hear about what I think she should have done, could have done. This is not about the merits of the case. It's legal principles, and by the legal principles, we shouldn't even be here.
00:10:09
Speaker 3: It's interesting though that she waited until day three, whence she had the opportunity to call a mistrial. And I know that it does matter why you dismissed charges, but it is interesting to me that she wouldn't allow the prosecution or she didn't acknowledge or honor the prosecution and the defensi's request for a miss trial yesterday, and then this morning we wake up and hear this. That was what was so jarring to me as just a bystander or someone who's watching this trial.
00:10:35
Speaker 2: Totally different grounds, right, they want you to say, this trial is messed up and we got to start over. So the charges would have still been there. They were essentially saying there was some influence in this trial. Now with this jury that we think they've been tainted, we need to start over. She said, nope, I want to keep going. So she didn't throw it out based on that argument. It's a different argument being made today. They did not prove their case. They have not proved the statue. What is it wanton endangerment? The specific charges were eight counts of child.
00:11:06
Speaker 3: Abuse and wanton behavior I believe or yes, I can get the exact but it was something to that, except with child endangerment.
00:11:14
Speaker 2: The eight counts come from the eight bullets that were in the gun. And she talked about today, you know what, as I'm looking at the statue, you're kind of stretching here with what you're trying to go with with the abuse. And you remember yesterday Robes when they had the parent up. It was a parent of a kid who wasn't even in the classroom.
00:11:29
Speaker 3: That was strange to me, like, if you're going to show harm because they had like and the prosecutor even said, look, I have to have this parent up talking about the impact on his child, but that student wasn't even in the classroom. Where it happened, which I thought was interesting. Why would they not have had a parent of one of the kids who was in the classroom where I feel like that would have been a much more powerful point to make.
00:11:52
Speaker 2: I have no idea, but she was making the point that you have victims here, like your your eight counts of child abuse, and you don't have kids you know who's abused, right, they just said just as a whole kind of just generally speaking. But there were no victims, there were no names, there were no She made that point when she was going through it. I go, okay, I get that, but why did we have to wait until now? Right?
00:12:14
Speaker 3: And that was what was interesting to me. The obviously the prosecution rested its case and then the defense, as they do, ask for a dismissal. Yeah, it was shocking. I don't think I've seen that yet. This has all been so new to see this is. That's how rare this is to see a judge say, you're right, dismissing the charges the prosecution didn't prove its case.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: Well, stay here, folks, we will then Well we will now coming up next tell you just how this all played out. We watched it and we watched it live as she heard the word from the judge that she is not going to have to face criminal charges.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: Stay here, we.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Come back, everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ where we just had a stunning decision by the judge in the rich Neck Assistant principal case. She was being held criminally responsible for a six year old student shooting a teacher. That teacher survived. That teacher was the first witness that the prosecution put up in its case. It called a total of I believe sixteen witnesses. Once the prosecution rested its case today, the defense, as expected, asked for a dismissal and the judge granted it. And when the judge made her announcement as she started her sentence, the reaction from doctor Ebony Parker, who was looking at potentially losing her freedom, spending as much as forty years behind bars, her whole body. We only saw the back of her with the way the camera was situated, but we could hear her and we could see her physical reaction to the news.
00:13:54
Speaker 2: Roaps what a relief I mean, no matter what, I don't think anybody looked at this. We watched trials, we see the criminal defendant and we see a criminal. She was sitting at the defense table, but that was nothing that any of us looked like.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: She was some hardened criminal.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: We understand people want to have somebody held responsible, but we have We have grown up around educators. We all love and respect our teachers and spect small schools like an elementary school. Principal and assistant principal are pretty special people. And I have no doubt that this woman's heart has been in the right We don't know her at all, but I defer that if she got into education, her heart was in the right place and she wanted to protect kids. This is just awful, unfortunate, terrible, and I'm glads nobody got killed. He as, but it's just that it's a tough one. But she has to deal with this. Is she going to work in education again?
00:14:47
Speaker 1: Who knows.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: I don't know. But it was heartbreaking, Like I almost cried watching her react to the judge dismissing the charges against her. She started, and it's not an understatement to say she was sobbing. She was sobbing from the moment she finally recognized that this was over, this criminal these criminal charges were done and over and by the way, the judge made this ruling with prejudice, meaning these charges cannot be brought against her again. So she is a free woman, and her shoulders, her body, everything in her body was heaving up and down, and she actually was making noise with the crying. That's how hard she was crying. And it was impossible not to be moved and to feel for this woman who has been put through quite a bit over these last few years. With fingers pointed directly at her.
00:15:41
Speaker 2: This is different from a lot of cases where you're anticipating an announcement and expecting it to be emotional. There are times oftentimes we hear the warning right from judges warning everybody in the gallery like no matter, no outbursts, no outbursts. This is one romes where it's customary. I was actually watching the judge and the defense go through the motions. He's got to go ask for her to throughout the case and let me hear the judge say no. But then she kept talking, kept talking, and you start to figure out the direction she's going. So it was a surprise type of announcement to where you couldn't even prepare yourself for that emotional outburst. She ended up having. You saw over time, you could tell the way that it was going with the judge, and they finally panned over to her. The attorney started rubbing her on the back, and they could tell the way it was happening, and she was a.
00:16:32
Speaker 1: Loud at one point.
00:16:33
Speaker 3: That was a loud.
00:16:35
Speaker 1: Whelp, yeah, welp. It was ropes to just finally it's over for.
00:16:40
Speaker 3: Her, Oh my goodness. And then you know, I hate to see this, and we've been in local news, and I get it, you follow somebody out of court. I have absolutely been that reporter. But this this woman has been through so much and she's trying to leave and everyone's just shouting questions at her, and I gotta say good for her. She did answer one question. She just she kept her head held high. But she just walked to her car and her attorneys. That's what her attorneys are for. And I just appreciated that, and I thought for her, I was just like a local news is tough, you know, yelling out questions at her when clearly she's not answering. That was a I always hate seeing those walks, and not for somebody who's just been through what she's been through. I'm glad she gets to at least now take a deep breath. I mean, it's this has been NonStop, and I know there are more civil lawsuits where she is a named defendant, so this drama, these battles aren't over. But this was the big one. This was her freedom at stake.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: The next big battle. Not sure if she's going to be involved in it or not. With that ten million dollar judgment, Now that was against the school district and against Ebony Parker. Who's going to pay that ten million dollars to that student? It did matter. There are insurance companies, insurers who are on the hook for that money. Well, now that Ebony Parker has been held responsible, they don't have as much of a defense for saying we don't owe it, So Rose, that battle might continue down the road as well. So the case is not necessarily over butes. It is an important one because this is not the last.
00:18:13
Speaker 3: Damn right. I know that's so awful to say.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: The last school shooting.
00:18:17
Speaker 3: We know it's not. But this is certainly going to impact how prosecutors and who prosecutors choose to go after in the aftermath of these terrible tragedies that we hope one day could finally come to an end, but certainly today was a victory for doctor Ebeny Parker and without everyone. We always appreciate you listening to us I amy roback alongside TJ. Holmes.
00:18:41
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Thursday, May twenty first, and the trial of Ebony Parker is over, and it ended before the jury even showed up to court this morning. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. This is a closely watched trial. This is a historic trial in a lot of ways and robes. It is over not because of a mistrial and not because of an acquittal.
00:00:29
Speaker 3: No, it is because the judge ruled that the prosecution did not prove its case. The defense, as is typical, asked for the judge to throughout the case based on what the prosecution offered. I think they called a total of sixteen witnesses and I was frankly surprised, but the judge said, we're done here.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: This judge continued to surprise us throughout quite frankly, and I say, throughout the trial. It wasn't that long.
00:00:58
Speaker 3: It was a couple of days.
00:00:59
Speaker 1: It was two days of testimony.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: Actually they did jury selection on Monday, two days of testimony, and today they didn't even get the testimony for the most part when they started this morning. A reminder, this was a very important trial for Roads because we can expect, unfortunately, to see more shootings to see more school shootings, and this is the first one, at least anybody can find in which a school administrator is being taken to task held criminally responsible for it.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Yes, and we have seen trials in the past where law enforcement has been held responsible and a jury has chosen not to convict law enforcement. That was specifically in the Uvaldi case. We've seen parents held criminally responsible, and that actually has I shouldn't I don't want to use the word worked, but certainly there have been convictions for parents who were held criminally responsible for their children's act of violence. But it looks as though now going after police, going after school administrators, so far it's zero for too, I believe at least. And so this could have been and certainly is still precedent setting. This could deter prosecutors from pursuing charges like these in the future.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: Say, and this is Ebony Parker, who was an assistant principle being held responsible for a six year old kid who shot his teacher. This was a story that made international headlines back in January of twenty twenty three. Kid brings a gun to school, shoots his teacher, She survives. She has won a ten million dollar judgment against the school district and Abney Park in particular, so that at least part of it is done. Butbes I don't know. She was told, she was told more than once that a kid possibly had a gun at school. The defense was arguing, it's several other people had the authority and the ability if they knew or thought to remove that kid. The prosecution was saying, actually it fell to her to act.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: So where we land here.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: Robes were used to prosecution putting on a case, and then it's customary the defense gets up and they ask for a mistriale. Five ninety eight percent of the time it's it's the judge tonight. No, this was different robes in that they weren't just making an argument about something not going right in the trial. There were questions about some jurors and some questions they had the jury had been tainted. They had talked about miss trial the day before. The judge made a much different and definitive determination here is that you know what, you don't even have the right, mister prosecutor, to charge her with a crime.
00:03:33
Speaker 1: It's not a crime.
00:03:35
Speaker 2: And unless the legislature decides to change statute, we shouldn't.
00:03:40
Speaker 1: Even be here.
00:03:41
Speaker 3: She dismissed all eight counts of felony child abuse against doctor Ebeny Parker. And look, the reaction from doctor Parker was palpable, it was audible. And can you imagine she spent her life in service of children and certainly chose a job in education. That is we know we come from educators. This isn't about making money, this isn't about being powerful. Typically when we see people get involved in our educational system, it is for the love of learning and the love of children. So imagine being this woman, doctor Ebney Parker, building her life, her career as an assistant principle, working her way up, and to suddenly now be facing criminal charges. She was looking at a potential of forty years behind bars. I can't imagine the pressure and that surreal feeling of all of a sudden being held criminally responsible for the actions of a six year old. That had to be overwhelming.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: And I am pretty sure she has spent countless nights wishing she had done something different. Absolutely, there is no question she was told like, just from a human stand does it rise to criminal behavior? The judge clearly said no. But Robes was that was a lot that could have happened differently that day. You could e and argue robes the year before, given what was going on with this kid. This kid put another teacher in the chokehold. The year before, this kid had banged another teacher's cell phone. This kid was all, okay, thank you. I was about to use a stronger word. That's a good way to no. No, no, that's correct, babe. But to the point they had to separate him. He was on an amended schedule at school. We are changing our whole schedule to adjust to his behavior. This was they were aware of this. If there's anybody in that school that somebody says, we think he has a box cutter, we think he has scissors, you go isolate that kid. Absolutely.
00:05:39
Speaker 3: But I also believe, and I do think this had to have played into it, because look, when we see the headlines and we first read about the story, all of our jaws collectively dropped. I think most Americans, most people, even most parents, couldn't imagine that a six year old had not only the knowledge of a gun and the capability of loading and firing a gun, but actually having the wilful act and desire of harming someone with a gun. I think it just flies in the face of what we expect from first graders. And so if you hear a first grader might have a loaded gun, I can see why maybe you wouldn't take it that seriously. You wouldn't think that it would end or lead to the violence we saw it lead to. Maybe if a fifth grader or a sixth grader, maybe she would have taken it more seriously. I have to imagine that, Yes, she was busy as she as we heard in her interview with the head of human resources for the school district. We got to see that play out in court yesterday and where her head was. But I have to think that that played into it. What do you did she really think? Did any of us really believe a first grader was capable of that kind of violence.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: We didn't because we weren't in that elementary school with that kid for the past two years before this incident. Nope, I'm sorry, babe, All bets are off. There was a teacher there, His kindergarten teacher was going to quit unless they removed.
00:07:03
Speaker 1: Him from the class.
00:07:04
Speaker 2: She did say that she needed help to get out of a chokehold from this kid when he was five. Nope, I hear you now, all of us hearing the story night. There's no way a six year old first we first heard it. Man, he brought a gun to school, he was playing with it, accidentally shot somebody. Nope, this kid did this with intent. He was a constant menace. Yes, I accept what you're saying for everybody outside the school, robes for everybody in that school. They seemed to have good knowledge that this kid was potentially capable of something like this.
00:07:38
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I will say, as disruptive and as confusing as the testimony was and the defense's constant objections to some of that testimony and evidence, they did make excellent points to each person who got up and talked about what happened that day. Why didn't you separate the child? Why didn't you police? Why didn't you do something to protect your students? And that was incredibly effective because each look, the mode of operation might be on any other given day with any other student. Yeah, you send them to the principal's office. You send them to the office you called. She didn't even do that, So it's interesting. Look, there were missteps along the way, from the teacher who unfortunately was shot, to other fellow teachers, who heard students talking, who knew potentially that this kid, this kid that they were all very well aware of, had a gun at school, and everyone just kind of waited for someone else to do something. And then I get the buck stops at a certain point. But to not have anyone else, any other adult, take any form of responsibility and to make her criminally responsible, I get that. And the defense did a good job at laying that foundation.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: This was a collective failure, for sure. This was a collective failure at that school. And this is I mean, their handbook even said it. It laid out right. If you hear about this, if you hear about this, it laid out roads. What I'm saying is since nineteen ninety nine, right, have that, right, Columbine, Since that year, people change how they view threats at schools and they just don't mess around. And maybe we're at the point now, Robes that we need to lower that age of who we think could be a threat, because yes, a six year old intentionally shot his teacher, brought a gun to school and loaded that sucker. So this is going to be I say, precedent setting.
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Maybe not.
00:09:39
Speaker 2: We don't have the precedent yet, but Robes, this is one the judge set up there. There is no precedent for what we're dealing with right now and right now on the books. The way it is, she did not commit a crime based on Virginia law. Therefore we gotta go. And if the legs she said, I did not make any determination hear about what I think she should have done, could have done. This is not about the merits of the case. It's legal principles, and by the legal principles, we shouldn't even be here.
00:10:09
Speaker 3: It's interesting though that she waited until day three, whence she had the opportunity to call a mistrial. And I know that it does matter why you dismissed charges, but it is interesting to me that she wouldn't allow the prosecution or she didn't acknowledge or honor the prosecution and the defensi's request for a miss trial yesterday, and then this morning we wake up and hear this. That was what was so jarring to me as just a bystander or someone who's watching this trial.
00:10:35
Speaker 2: Totally different grounds, right, they want you to say, this trial is messed up and we got to start over. So the charges would have still been there. They were essentially saying there was some influence in this trial. Now with this jury that we think they've been tainted, we need to start over. She said, nope, I want to keep going. So she didn't throw it out based on that argument. It's a different argument being made today. They did not prove their case. They have not proved the statue. What is it wanton endangerment? The specific charges were eight counts of child.
00:11:06
Speaker 3: Abuse and wanton behavior I believe or yes, I can get the exact but it was something to that, except with child endangerment.
00:11:14
Speaker 2: The eight counts come from the eight bullets that were in the gun. And she talked about today, you know what, as I'm looking at the statue, you're kind of stretching here with what you're trying to go with with the abuse. And you remember yesterday Robes when they had the parent up. It was a parent of a kid who wasn't even in the classroom.
00:11:29
Speaker 3: That was strange to me, like, if you're going to show harm because they had like and the prosecutor even said, look, I have to have this parent up talking about the impact on his child, but that student wasn't even in the classroom. Where it happened, which I thought was interesting. Why would they not have had a parent of one of the kids who was in the classroom where I feel like that would have been a much more powerful point to make.
00:11:52
Speaker 2: I have no idea, but she was making the point that you have victims here, like your your eight counts of child abuse, and you don't have kids you know who's abused, right, they just said just as a whole kind of just generally speaking. But there were no victims, there were no names, there were no She made that point when she was going through it. I go, okay, I get that, but why did we have to wait until now? Right?
00:12:14
Speaker 3: And that was what was interesting to me. The obviously the prosecution rested its case and then the defense, as they do, ask for a dismissal. Yeah, it was shocking. I don't think I've seen that yet. This has all been so new to see this is. That's how rare this is to see a judge say, you're right, dismissing the charges the prosecution didn't prove its case.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: Well, stay here, folks, we will then Well we will now coming up next tell you just how this all played out. We watched it and we watched it live as she heard the word from the judge that she is not going to have to face criminal charges.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: Stay here, we.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Come back, everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ where we just had a stunning decision by the judge in the rich Neck Assistant principal case. She was being held criminally responsible for a six year old student shooting a teacher. That teacher survived. That teacher was the first witness that the prosecution put up in its case. It called a total of I believe sixteen witnesses. Once the prosecution rested its case today, the defense, as expected, asked for a dismissal and the judge granted it. And when the judge made her announcement as she started her sentence, the reaction from doctor Ebony Parker, who was looking at potentially losing her freedom, spending as much as forty years behind bars, her whole body. We only saw the back of her with the way the camera was situated, but we could hear her and we could see her physical reaction to the news.
00:13:54
Speaker 2: Roaps what a relief I mean, no matter what, I don't think anybody looked at this. We watched trials, we see the criminal defendant and we see a criminal. She was sitting at the defense table, but that was nothing that any of us looked like.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: She was some hardened criminal.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: We understand people want to have somebody held responsible, but we have We have grown up around educators. We all love and respect our teachers and spect small schools like an elementary school. Principal and assistant principal are pretty special people. And I have no doubt that this woman's heart has been in the right We don't know her at all, but I defer that if she got into education, her heart was in the right place and she wanted to protect kids. This is just awful, unfortunate, terrible, and I'm glads nobody got killed. He as, but it's just that it's a tough one. But she has to deal with this. Is she going to work in education again?
00:14:47
Speaker 1: Who knows.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: I don't know. But it was heartbreaking, Like I almost cried watching her react to the judge dismissing the charges against her. She started, and it's not an understatement to say she was sobbing. She was sobbing from the moment she finally recognized that this was over, this criminal these criminal charges were done and over and by the way, the judge made this ruling with prejudice, meaning these charges cannot be brought against her again. So she is a free woman, and her shoulders, her body, everything in her body was heaving up and down, and she actually was making noise with the crying. That's how hard she was crying. And it was impossible not to be moved and to feel for this woman who has been put through quite a bit over these last few years. With fingers pointed directly at her.
00:15:41
Speaker 2: This is different from a lot of cases where you're anticipating an announcement and expecting it to be emotional. There are times oftentimes we hear the warning right from judges warning everybody in the gallery like no matter, no outbursts, no outbursts. This is one romes where it's customary. I was actually watching the judge and the defense go through the motions. He's got to go ask for her to throughout the case and let me hear the judge say no. But then she kept talking, kept talking, and you start to figure out the direction she's going. So it was a surprise type of announcement to where you couldn't even prepare yourself for that emotional outburst. She ended up having. You saw over time, you could tell the way that it was going with the judge, and they finally panned over to her. The attorney started rubbing her on the back, and they could tell the way it was happening, and she was a.
00:16:32
Speaker 1: Loud at one point.
00:16:33
Speaker 3: That was a loud.
00:16:35
Speaker 1: Whelp, yeah, welp. It was ropes to just finally it's over for.
00:16:40
Speaker 3: Her, Oh my goodness. And then you know, I hate to see this, and we've been in local news, and I get it, you follow somebody out of court. I have absolutely been that reporter. But this this woman has been through so much and she's trying to leave and everyone's just shouting questions at her, and I gotta say good for her. She did answer one question. She just she kept her head held high. But she just walked to her car and her attorneys. That's what her attorneys are for. And I just appreciated that, and I thought for her, I was just like a local news is tough, you know, yelling out questions at her when clearly she's not answering. That was a I always hate seeing those walks, and not for somebody who's just been through what she's been through. I'm glad she gets to at least now take a deep breath. I mean, it's this has been NonStop, and I know there are more civil lawsuits where she is a named defendant, so this drama, these battles aren't over. But this was the big one. This was her freedom at stake.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: The next big battle. Not sure if she's going to be involved in it or not. With that ten million dollar judgment, Now that was against the school district and against Ebony Parker. Who's going to pay that ten million dollars to that student? It did matter. There are insurance companies, insurers who are on the hook for that money. Well, now that Ebony Parker has been held responsible, they don't have as much of a defense for saying we don't owe it, So Rose, that battle might continue down the road as well. So the case is not necessarily over butes. It is an important one because this is not the last.
00:18:13
Speaker 3: Damn right. I know that's so awful to say.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: The last school shooting.
00:18:17
Speaker 3: We know it's not. But this is certainly going to impact how prosecutors and who prosecutors choose to go after in the aftermath of these terrible tragedies that we hope one day could finally come to an end, but certainly today was a victory for doctor Ebeny Parker and without everyone. We always appreciate you listening to us I amy roback alongside TJ. Holmes.
00:18:41
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you soon.