ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996               TAG: 9601230007
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-8  EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH
SOURCE: Associated Press 

JEEP RAMMER CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER

A jury has convicted a 25-year-old woman of involuntary manslaughter for ramming the back of her estranged husband's Jeep, triggering a wreck that killed one of the vehicle's passengers.

Jurors will meet Monday to determine sentencing for Irma C. Ziehr, who originally was charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder and two counts of child endangerment. She could receive up to 10 years in prison.

Jennifer Erickson, 14, died when the 1994 Jeep Cherokee Wagon hit a guardrail, flipped and rolled several times on the Western Freeway on Aug. 20.

Ziehr's estranged husband, David Ziehr, was not in the Jeep at the time of the accident. The vehicle was being driven by 21-year-old Wanda Zavala.

During the three-day trial, witnesses testified that on Aug. 20, Irma Ziehr went to a swimming pool looking for David Ziehr.

Irma Ziehr testified that she took two 15-year-old girls with her to act as witnesses in case she and her husband had an argument.

Irma Ziehr later saw her husband's Jeep being driven by Zavala, who had left the pool with Erickson to get something to eat. Irma Ziehr began following the Jeep and rammed it, causing the accident.

The crash pinned both occupants inside.

``This is a result of a person who is obsessed beyond the point of rational comprehension,'' said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney David Dayton, citing Irma Ziehr's jealousy and suspicions about her husband's infidelity.

``Irma Ziehr that day endangered the lives of the girls in her car,'' Dayton said, ``and cruelly and brutally murdered a 14-year-old girl.''

Defense attorney Darrell Sayer argued that Zavala caused the wreck. He said Zavala had hit his client's car in a previous incident.

Irma Ziehr and Zavala now face a civil trial in the spring stemming from a $2.35 million lawsuit filed by Erickson's mother in September.

LENGTH: Short :   44 lines
KEYWORDS: FATALITY