Teen faces 40 years as sentencing trial in Lamar High shooting continues

By Zaeem Shaikh
Dallas Morning News

A jury this week is viewing evidence and hearing from witnesses in the the sentencing trial of the teenager accused in a shooting outside an Arlington high school that killed one student and wounded another in March.

The 16-year-old boy pleaded true last week to a charge of capital murder and three counts of attempted capital murder, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported. Accusations against juveniles are found to be true or not true.

The unidentified boy faces a maximum sentence under Texas law of 40 years. A jury was selected late Monday afternoon and will determine the punishment, ranging from probation to the maximum penalty, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The March 20 shooting took place before school started. Ja’Shawn Poirier, 16, was killed outside Lamar High School, and the boy, then 15, was taken into custody a short time later on a capital murder charge.

In the courtroom Tuesday, NBC5 reported, the girl wounded in the shooting took the stand. She told jurors she didn’t go to school for more than a week after the shooting and that the sound of thunder keeps her on edge, reminding her of a gunshot. She added that she had no ties to the shooter.

Prosecutors provided surveillance video of the shooting, which showed students scatter after the teen fired a second time, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported. Some students took cover behind a column in a courtyard, the station said.

Defense attorneys will call witnesses in the trial Wednesday, the station reported. They say the boy should be punished but are asking jurors to consider a sentence less than the maximum of 40 years.

The boy was set to stand trial last month, but it was delayed after a judge ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation. In June, Judge Alex Kim ruled the boy would not stand trial as an adult.

His father, 50-year-old John Edward Porter, was sentenced Sept. 7 to more than six years in federal prison for possessing firearms as a felon.

Federal authorities said a records trace of a shotgun, a Mossberg model 500, recovered at the scene of the shooting revealed a relative of Porter’s bought it.

This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.