Sentencing postponed for woman charged in fatal shooting at Davenport Chuck E. Cheese

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – Sentencing was postponed Friday for a Davenport woman accused of fatally shooting a woman in a Davenport Chuck E. Cheese after a judge said he was not comfortable accepting her plea agreement.

Treshonda Pollion, 25, pleaded guilty in April to voluntary manslaughter, a Class C felony punishable by 10 years in prison, in the death of 29-year-old Eloise Chairs. She was charged with second-degree murder.

On Friday, Judge Henry Latham said he had concerns about comments Pollion made about her innocence in a presentence investigation. A presentence investigation includes information about a defendant’s family, education, employment, health, and criminal history to help the judge determine an appropriate sentence.

“I don’t make it a habit of sentencing people that make a statement that they are pleading guilty to something that they shouldn’t,” he said during a short hearing held over Zoom. “To me, that indicates that I am sentencing someone that is claiming that they’re not guilty of the offense that they have pled guilty to. I have a problem with that. My job is not to sentence innocent people or people that claim they have a defense to a crime.”

Pollion’s attorney, Michael Motto, said he spoke to her ahead of Friday’s hearing and said she understands her plea and that he did not think she “meant to imply that she was innocent.”

“I think she was simply stating her reasons for why she accepted the plea, which was a lesser included of what she was charged with.”

He added, “She understands what she pled to, and she’s taking responsibility for it.”

At the end of the hearing, Latham agreed to continue the sentencing hearing to July 9 and granted Motto’s request to add an addendum to the presentence investigation.

According to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in the case:

Davenport officers were dispatched around 7:38 p.m. Oct. 25 to Chuck E. Cheese, 903 E. Kimberly Road, where they found Chairs with a gunshot wound. She was transported to Genesis East Hospital, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

Police interviewed numerous witnesses who said an argument took place between Chairs and others at the restaurant.

Police learned the argument surrounded a game card that was possibly stolen.

A witness told police that she and Chairs argued over the game card and that the argument was momentarily broken up.

A second argument began moments later between Pollion, the woman’s friend, and Chairs about the game card.

The manager tried breaking up the fight when Pollion and Chairs exchanged punches. The fight continued over by the prize area, where a man who was with Chairs got involved.

The woman who first argued with Chairs said she saw Pollion with a gun in her hand and heard Chairs yell that Pollion had a gun.

Pollion and Chairs began to tussle, and the woman said she heard one gunshot. The woman told police Pollion was the person who shot Chairs before leaving the restaurant.

Officers located one .380-caliber shell casing, according to the affidavit.

Pollion initially was charged with first-degree murder, but prosecutors amended the charge to second-degree murder in December. Scott County Attorney Mike Walton told TV6 at the time that he did not feel the evidence supported premeditation when he reviewed the case.