Trial set for 14-year-old Accomack youth

By Linda Cicoira

A 14-year-old seventh grader from Parksley is set to be tried by a Northampton Circuit Court jury, on May 31 and June 1, on eight charges including attempted aggravated murder of a county police officer in Cheriton last July.

Despite his age, Jamarion Javion S. Lafferty will be tried as an adult because of the seriousness of the alleged crimes, the court record stated. He could face more than 75 years in prison or be held for seven years in juvenile detention until the case and his progress is reviewed by a judge.

Lafferty’s mother told authorities her son started hanging around with some older boys when he was 11, which she discouraged. At 13, he admitted to Maryland police that he was affiliated with the street gang, Eastside Blood Gang Villains, the record stated.

Lt. S. Lewis and other officers from the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office, were investigating two drive-by shootings, on July 30. Lewis was in his unmarked squad car when three males got out of an SUV and started shooting at him. Lafferty was identified from a surveillance video as one of the suspects, records showed.

Lewis’s vehicle was hit twice by gunfire. An investigator retrieved 31 bullet shell casings from the scene.

The 14-year-old was indicted on two counts of attempted aggravated murder, malicious shooting by a mob, attempted malicious bodily injury of Lewis, maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle, reckless handling of a firearm when attempting to murder or wound a police officer, use of a firearm in a felony, and possession of a firearm when under 18 years old.

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