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PORTSMOUTH — The case against two men accused in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl will move forward in Portsmouth.
A judge on Wednesday found prosecutors established sufficient probable cause in their case against Avery Laquin Setzer and Antonyo Jamal Taylor. The judge sent first-degree murder charges forward to Circuit Court, moving the case a step closer to eventual trial.
At Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, special prosecutors Barrett Richardson and Michael Rosenberg dropped charges against a third man who had been accused, Trevon Avery, saying they did not have enough evidence. They also dropped malicious wounding charges Setzer and Taylor had been facing in connection with injuries a man sustained during the incident.
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Shortly before 2:30 p.m. Dec. 22, police were called to Portsmouth Boulevard and Truxton Avenue.
In court Wednesday, Phyllis Everett testified she was driving in that area when a vehicle — which she identified as a gold Acura TL — pulled alongside her and began to open fire. Her 7-year-old daughter, Mylani Everett, was hit.
The girl died at a hospital two days later, Christmas Eve.
The owner of the Acura testified that Setzer was in the front passenger seat and Taylor in the back passenger side the day of the shooting. He said he heard gunshots but didn’t know who fired. The witness said he had a gun in the car but didn’t fire it.
He said he heard Taylor say he dropped his clip, referring to the magazine of a gun.
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Under questioning by defense attorneys Nathan Chapman and Don Scott, the man said he went to Richmond later that day with two other people, one of whom changed the license plates on his car.
The man signed an immunity agreement with prosecutors that said any statements he made during an April interview wouldn’t be used against him.
In an interview with police, Setzer said he was in the Acura and fired shots upward, into the air, a detective testified in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
Before the judge certified the charges Wednesday, the defense attorneys asked that the charges be thrown out, saying prosecutors hadn’t established probable cause.
Both attorneys questioned the motivation and credibility of the witness who signed an immunity agreement.
Scott said no physical evidence had been presented connecting Taylor, his client, to the child’s death. Chapman said the most incriminating evidence against Setzer was that he told police — at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour interrogation — that he fired a gun in the air.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com