Huguenot graduation shooter guilty plea stands [Video]

Pollard pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder for the June 6 shooting death of Shawn Jackson outside the Altria Theater in Richmond. His attorney, Jason Anthony, filed a motion in April to withdraw the guilty plea on the grounds that his legal counsel had been “ineffective” and “failed to accurately inform (Pollard) of his legal options.”

Marchant denied the motion, concluding that Anthony and his co-counsel, James Bullard, gave reasonable legal advice in the heat of battle, and that their argument did not meet high standards set for vacating a guilty plea.

Pollard was found guilty in April after a four-day trial. On the trial’s fourth day, Anthony and Bullard were forced to abandon their self-defense strategy after Marchant found the evidence did not meet the legal threshold for a self-defense case.

That decision meant the jury would not be given instructions on how to rule on the case as if Pollard had feared for his …