PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The woman who struck and killed two state troopers and a pedestrian on I-95 a year and a half ago has pleaded guilty in a negotiated deal with prosecutors and will spend decades in prison.
After a nearly three-hour hearing on Wednesday, 23-year-old Jayana Webb pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle while intoxicated, and DUI — and will spend at least 27 1/2 years, and up to 60 years, behind bars for the deaths of Pennsylvania State Troopers Branden Sisca, 29, and Martin Mack, 33, and civilian Reyes Rivera Oliveras, 29.
The trial that was originally scheduled for December will no longer take place. Webb, who is seven months pregnant, will begin her sentence after she delivers the baby. Until then, she will be under house arrest. She will come back to back in court next week Tuesday to set up the terms of house arrest.
Prosecutors on Wednesday shared video and DNA evidence to explain what happened in the early-morning hours of March 21, 2022, when Webb struck Sisca, Mack and Oliveras on I-95 near Lincoln Financial Field.
Investigators said the two troopers had pulled Webb over and left to respond to reports of a man, Oliveras, walking on the highway. Police said she was driving about 80 mph and had been drinking. Webb’s blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit when she was tested, and she had marijuana in her system.
Shortly after the troopers stopped to help Oliveras, Webb sped by and hit them.
Prosecutors shared some of Webb’s tweets just before the incident, in which she talked about being the “best drunk driver.”
Webb told the judge she was incredibly sorry for her actions and thinks about the families every day, and she said she would give anything to take it all back.
“She has always wanted to accept responsibility for the mistakes that she made. … She made some horrific decisions that night. Those decisions she will have to pay for the rest of her life,” her attorney Michael Walker said.
“It is a very difficult circumstance for my client, but more importantly, it is a very difficult circumstance for the families that lost their loved ones. It is our prayer that at some point they get some peace and comfort. It is her prayer that at some point they can forgive her.”
Sobbing, and sometimes shaking, Webb listened to the families of Sisca, Mack and Oliveras give victim impact statements.
Brittany Sisca said she was six months pregnant, and six months into her marriage with Branden, when she got the worst news of her life.
“There’s no amount of justice that is going to bring our husbands back, to bring our children’s fathers back, but at the end of the day, there is some sort of peace that I can have and some sort of justice that came out of this,” she said.
Stephanie Mack, Martin’s widow, told Webb her children are forever changed.
“The difference between her and my husband is that she gets to see hers through a glass door during visitation hours. Mine get to visit a tombstone.”
Olivera’s sister also gave a victim impact statement and, at the end, told a tearful Webb they forgive her.