A woman pleaded guilty in a deadly DUI crash on I-95 in South Philadelphia in 2022 that killed two state troopers and a pedestrian and will spend at least 27 years behind bars.
Jayana Webb, 23, struck and killed Pennsylvania State Troopers Martin F. Mack III, 33, and Branden T. Sisca, 29, as well as 28-year-old Reyes Rivera Oliveras on Interstate 95 near the Broad Street exit on March 21, 2022.
Webb pleaded guilty to three counts of 3rd degree murder, three counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and one count of driving under the influence, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.
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“Today’s conviction of Jayana Webb is a just resolution of one of the most shocking incidents of vehicular violence in recent memory," District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement.
As part of the plea deal -- which occurred less than two weeks before her scheduled trial -- Webb was sentenced to 27 ½ to 60 years in prison. Her prison time has been delayed however due to her being seven months pregnant, according to KYW Newsradio reporter Kristen Johanson, who first reported the news of Webb's guilty plea.
Back in June of 2022, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office refiled third-degree murder charges against Webb shortly after a judge dismissed it.
At that hearing, the judge set Webb's bail at $200,000 per person who died in the crash, bringing the total to $600,000.
"I think at the end of the day the judge made the right decision," Webb's attorney Michael Walker said at the time. "Based on the law, it shouldn't have ever been charged as a murder case. It was an accident. It was an accident. And I'm so happy and hopeful that she'll be able to go home and talk to her family."
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The crash that took the lives of the two state troopers happened around 12:40 a.m. in the southbound lanes of I-95 near Lincoln Financial Field on March 21, 2022. Sources told NBC10 the troopers had just pulled over Webb when they received a call about a man who was walking on the highway. They then left Webb as they responded to the man.
The two troopers spotted 28-year-old Rivera Oliveras walking on the highway. As they tried to get him into their vehicle, a driver, who officials identified as Webb, drove up to the scene and tried to use the shoulder of the highway to get around them.
Webb hit all three men, police said. The impact was so great that it threw the two troopers and Oliveras into the northbound lanes of I-95, police said.
Police said Webb remained at the scene, her car badly damaged, and was later taken into custody. Her alcohol level at the time was twice the legal limit of .08 BAC, according to police.
In March of 2022, Webb gave a post-Miranda Rights statement to officers that she had been drinking “strawberry Henny” -- referring to Hennessy Cognac -- prior to the crash, the Philadelphia District Attorney's office said.
Walker argued that his client was very young, a first-time offender and posed no danger to the public.
