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Murder charges reinstated against Jayana Webb, woman accused of killing 2 Pa. state troopers and a pedestrian on I-95
Rodrigo Torrejón, The Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday
Philadelphia judge on Wednesday reinstated third-degree murder charges against Jayana Webb, the 22-year-old woman accused of driving drunk and fatally striking two Pennsylvania state troopers and a third man in late March.
Common Pleas Court Judge Lillian Ransom said video footage from the night of the fatal crash on I-95, tweets Webb allegedly sent that night, and notes of previous witness testimony were enough to convince her that Webb should stand trial for third-degree murder.
Third-degree murder charges dismissed, then refiled, against woman charged in deaths of 2 Pa. State Police troopers and pedestrian on I-95
Ransom’s decision comes more than a month after a judge dismissed the third-degree murder charges against Webb, and the District Attorney’s Office immediately refiled them.
“The court is satisfied that reinstating is the appropriate thing to do,” Ransom said at a court hearing Wednesday.
Webb is accused of killing Troopers Martin Mack III and Branden T. Sisca, along with Reyes Rivera Oliveras, 28, with her car on I-95 in the early morning hours of March 21. Webb, of Eagleville, was charged with third-degree murder for the three deaths. But at a preliminary hearing in June, Municipal Court Judge Karen Simmons dismissed the three murder counts.
Ransom on Wednesday also denied a motion by the District Attorney’s Office to revoke Webb’s bail. At the June hearing, Webb’s bail was set at $600,000, which Webb’s family is now free to pay.
Woman, 21, charged in crash that killed two state troopers and a civilian on I-95
Along with the reinstated murder counts, Webb is charged with homicide with a vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, and homicide with a vehicle with DUI.
When Ransom ruled that the murder charges would be reinstated, there was an audible reaction from Stephanie Mack and Brittany Sisca, the fallen troopers’ widows. Ransom told the two women to leave the courtroom.
Assistant District Attorney Dave Osborne said he was told that one of the two women had merely been trying to obtain a face mask for one of the state troopers in attendance.
After the hearing, Webb’s attorney, Michael Walker, said he plans to file a motion asking the judge to reconsider her ruling.
Outside the courthouse, Osborne said Stephanie Mack and Brittany Sisca were relieved at the judge’s decision.
“This is a horrible case and they’ve been living with this since the day it happened,” he said. “So they were happy, as happy as you can be for two women who lost their husbands. It seemed to be more a sense of relief than anything that the right thing was done today.”
In a statement, District Attorney Larry Krasner praised the judge’s decision.
“The charge of 3rd degree murder was always appropriate for this defendant, whose actions we allege led to the violent deaths of Pennsylvania State Troopers Martin F. Mack, III, and Branden T. Sisca, and the man they were attempting to help, Reyes Rivera Oliveras,” Krasner said.
Walker said Webb’s family, including her mother, who attended the hearing, was “deeply saddened” by the judge’s decision.
He said he told Webb’s family: “There’s going to be ups and downs. And to recognize that three people perished because of one or more things that your daughter unfortunately may have done.
“Although she is still presumed innocent,” he said, “the car she was driving struck three people and those people are dead.”
On I-95, four lives converged in a crash that left three dead and a young person facing steep consequences
Walker had successfully argued in June that case law requires proof of malice for murder charges in vehicular-homicide cases, saying the District Attorney’s Office had not proven that in this case.
“The case law is consistent. There is a consistent thread throughout the tapestry of every single case. There is a level of wickedness and cruelty that comes into play when you’re talking about malice for third-degree murder,” he said Wednesday.
Osborne said that was not so.
“In fact, in the standard jury charge that judges read to juries — that wickedness, that hardness of heart — does not exist in the language,” he said. “The words that you heard over and over again — hardness of heart and things of that nature — we don’t believe that’s the standard. Especially in a case of this matter.”
Webb is next scheduled to appear in court in September.
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