‘DIRECT LINE’

Mom of 6-Year-Old Who Shot Teacher Gets 21 Months for Drug Charge

Deja Taylor was sentenced to 21 months behind bars for using marijuana while owning a firearm, a felony under U.S. law.

The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher at a Virginia elementary school earlier this year was sentenced Wednesday to 21 months in prison on federal drug charges, according to the Associated Press. Investigators found evidence of heavy marijuana use by Deja Taylor after her young son took her handgun to Richneck Elementary School in January. Taylor, 26, was charged with using marijuana while owning a firearm and making a false statement about her drug use during the purchase of a firearm. She pleaded guilty to the charges in June. The AP reported that U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis drew a “direct line” between Taylor’s drug usage and firearm possession to the suffering that the boy’s teacher, Abby Zwerner, had endured. Davis added that Taylor’s “case cries out for a sentence of imprisonment.” Taylor still faces a separate sentencing hearing next month for felony child neglect, with prosecutors asking that for a six-month sentence.