‘Smart, loving, boisterous, kind girl’: Day one of trial against Hopewell man accused of killing 8-year-old P’Aris Moore

HOPEWELL, Va. (WRIC) -- Day one of a three-day trial against the man accused of killing 8-year-old P'Aris Moore is underway. A jury was selected, both sides gave opening statements and five of the Commonwealth Attorney's 15 witnesses took the stand in the case against Jamari Taylor.

Facts of the Case

On Dec. 30, 2022, P'Aris Moore was just days away from her ninth birthday when police say three men drove down the 2300 block of Freeman Street and shot her from inside the car.  

She was a third grader at Henry E. James Elementary School.

Now 20-year-old Rayquan Harvell, 19-year-old Brandon Warner and Jamari Taylor were arrested and charged with her murder in 2023.

Warner pleaded guilty in March and is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence. Harvell will face trial in June. They’re both charged with first degree murder and felony use of firearm. 

Taylor’s charges are a bit different — he’s facing those two same charges as well as conspiracy to commit first degree murder and is the focus of this trial.

The murder weapon was never found.

Taylor is being represented by John Rockecharlie, while Jessica Bailey is leading the prosecution. Judge Wallace Brittle, Jr. is overseeing the case.

Jury Selection

The Commonwealth's Attorney and Taylor's defense attorney dwindled over 70 potential jurors down to 12, with two alternates. The jury is made up of three men and 11 women.

After the jury was selected, Rockecharlie requested the case be moved to a different jurisdiction, citing the media attention the case garnered and Hopewell being a small town for the sake of making the trial as fair as possible. The judge declined to move venues and proceeded with opening statements.

Opening Statements

Commonwealth's Attorney

The Commonwealth began by describing P'Aris to the jury as a "smart, loving, boisterous, kind girl." About 10 family members and friends were in the courtroom wearing pink in her honor.

The Commonwealth said throughout the trial, the jury will hear testimony that P'Aris was outside on Dec. 30, 2022, on a sunny and abnormally warm winter day. With it being just a few days after Christmas, a lot of kids in the neighborhood were outside playing with their new toys. P'Aris had just gotten a new pink bike.

The Commonwealth explained who the jury would hear testify, including P'Aris's cousin who was outside when she was shot, officers who responded to the scene, forensic experts and detectives who investigated the case. The Commonwealth's star witness will be Rayquan Harvell, Taylor's co-defendant.

They Commonwealth said when Harvell testifies, he'll explain what exactly happened in the car that day when he was driving and P'Aris was shot. They said Harvell hopes his cooperation will help him when he goes to trial in June, but that nothing has been promised.

The Commonwealth said they would present evidence linking the three men to a silver Honda Civic seen driving through the neighborhood at the time of the shooting by witnesses, and later linked through surveillance video.

Jamari Taylor's Defense

John Rockecharlie began his opening statements by saying the case is "clear as mud."

He said Crockett, P'Aris's cousin, won't be able to tell testify to who was in the car, who was driving or who shot the gun.

Rockecharlie suggested the expert forensic analysis would hold irrelevance as it also doesn't conclude who shot the gun.

Rockecharlie warned the jury not to trust Rayquan Harvell's testimony, as he said his story about who was sitting where in the car has changed several times, and that his words will be on "a foundation that crumbles."

Witness 1

The first of 15 witnesses called by the Commonwealth was Officer Corey Young with the Hopewell Police Department. He was called to the scene after P'Aris was shot.

He said he remembered it being chaotic when he got there and a lot of people being outside.

When he found P'Aris, she was lying on the ground with her eyes closed. He said there wasn't a lot of blood so it was difficult to find where she'd been shot. Other officers were assisting at the scene, frantically looking for a pulse. They eventually found a faint pulse, and Officer Young called on his radio for all of their resources to make their way there.

The Commonwealth then presented the bodycam footage from Officer Young that day. When the video began, P'Aris's mother, father and other family support left the courtroom.

The three-minute video shows Officer Young and the other officers searching desperately for a pulse. There is audible screaming throughout the entire video. One juror was visibly emotional as the video played.

A second video was played from Ring Camera footage in the neighborhood. The video shows a car driving by at a high speed. Officer Young said video like this was used to see if anyone fled the scene around the time of the shooting.

Rockecharlie asked Officer Young if it looked like a Honda Civic like the Commonwealth implied. Officer Young said it did not.

Witness 2

The second witness called to testify by the Commonwealth was Davone Jones Crockett, P'Aris's cousin.

Crockett said he was in his mother's front yard when P'Aris was shot.

He said he was about to get in his car and leave when he saw his little cousins and nephew coming toward him. His nephew was walking his dirt bike that had run out of gas, so he helped him fill it back up.

Crockett said as he was doing this, he noticed a silver car coming down the street at high speed. He said he got a weird feeling at the sight of it, put the gas can down, and headed toward his car where he was keeping his registered firearm.

As he was doing this, he heard one gunshot, and all the kids took off running. He said he ran after the car for a second, but turned around and saw P'Aris on the ground.

He said he did not see who in the car.

Rockecharlie had him explain in detail how the street is set up and where exactly he saw the car speeding from. Crockett said the car was going down Trenton Street, and turned onto Freeman Street at the intersection of Carolina Avenue.

Witness 3

The third witness called by the Commonwealth was Detective Shawn Grant. He said he was called to the scene to assist the murder investigation, and pursued video evidence and witness accounts in the following weeks.

He took photos of the initial crime scene which were submitted by the Commonwealth as evidence, including photos of a nine millimeter cartridge casing and a flower projectile.

The defense did not ask any questions.

Witness 4

The fourth witness was Keena Heise. She works at the Department of Forensic Science in Richmond and performed DNA analysis on P'Aris's body and the bullet that hit her.

Heise said she specifically tested what's called the bullet jacket and bullet core. Rockecharlie asked what the difference between the two is, but she said the terms are defined by someone else in a different department and she did not know.

He asked if any DNA testing can reveal who shot the gun, which Heise responded, "No, I cannot tell you that."

Witness 5

The fifth and final witness of the day was Detective Tara Clark with the Hopewell Police Department. She is the lead detective in the case.

Detective Clark said she responded to the initial call about the shooting around 2:15 p.m. on Dec. 30, 2022. P'Aris was just being put into the ambulance when she arrived.

She began getting witness statements and heard a silver sedan was seen driving by at the time of the shooting.

Detective Clark used surveillance video from neighbors and from the Five Forks Food Market on Berry Street. She said silver sedan going the wrong way on the partially one-way Berry Street 30 seconds before dispatch got their first call about the shooting caught her attention.

She was able to enhance photos of the car, finding it to be a silver Honda Civic EX carrying three passengers with the windows down. Using Flock cameras, a program used by law enforcement to capture license plates and other vehicle characteristics, Detective Clark linked the car to Rayquan Harvell in July of 2023, leading to an arrest.

The defense questioned if the third person Detective Clark believes is in the backseat of the car is just a shadow from the person in the front seat. Detective Clark reiterated she sees three people.

Rockecharlie asked if she or Harvell brought up Jamari Taylor or Brandon Warner first during his intermigration interview. She said she could not recall.

The trial will continue on Wednesday, Feb. 18 in Hopewell Circuit Court.