MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A judge Wednesday heard arguments over whether charges should be dropped against a former LeFlore High School student accused of shooting two students at the school.
Mobile County Circuit Judge Wesley Pipes did not immediately rule on the issue. He said he wants to hear additional argument over whether Jemya Princess Alexandria White even is eligible for pretrial immunity if she was breaking the law at the time by having a gun. He gave the Mobile County District Attorney's Office two weeks to submit written arguments on that issue.
The shooting occurred in January 2024. According to police, White fired once, grazing a student she was having an altercation with and striking another student who was not involved in the dispute. Both students suffered minor injuries and since have recovered. White, who now is 18 but was a minor at the time, faces two counts of first-degree assault, discharging a gun inside a building and possession of a gun on school grounds.
Mobile County Assistant Public Defender John Sawyer argued that video clearly shows that the other student was the aggressor. He told the judge that even if his client's gun possession disqualifies her claim under Alabama's "Stand Your Ground" law, she still had a right to defend herself since she had no reasonable ability to retreat from the attack.
The judge watched the incident from two different angles - surveillance footage of the hallway where it occurred and cell phone video taken from inside a classroom through the door window.
De'Marius King, who attended LeFlore with White and saw the incident, testified that the other student punched her and slung her to the ground.
"It's uncontroverted that (the other student) instigated the altercation," Sawyer said. "The video corroborates it. Mr. King corroborates it."
Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Richard Foreman argued that the video shows that after King tried to intervene and break up the fight, the other student was on the other side of the hallway. At that point, he said, White could have backed into the classroom but chose not to and fired her gun instead.
"She never called for help, never did anything," he said.
King testified that he does not know the other student personally but is familiar with him and knew that he had "issues" with White. He testified that the other student punched her without provocation and "constantly hit her" after slinging her to the ground. He testified that he grabbed White in an attempt to break up the fight and that the other student hit her again.
Asked what happened next, King said: “Jemya pulled a gun and shot him.”
The hallway video shows White walking toward the end, but it is difficult to make out what happened during the shooting, because it happened in the doorway of a classroom out of view. The video does show students running toward the camera immediately after the shooting.
The cell phone video, which includes audio, presents a chaotic scene.
White remains jailed since Pipes revoked her bond after determining she violated the restrictions of her house arrest. If he grants the immunity request, the charges would be dropped. If he rules against White, the case will proceed to trial, where she still would be able to argue self-defense in front of a jury.