THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 23, 1996 TAG: 9601230244
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Irma Ziehr, who intentionally rammed her car into a Jeep Cherokee on the Western Freeway, killing a 14-year-old passenger in the Jeep, was sentenced to 30 days in jail Monday.
The Circuit Court jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning to deliver the news.
While several of Ziehr's friends and relatives burst into tears, the parents of victim Jennifer Erickson stood watching in shocked silence, said family attorney Jill Roseland.
Later, the teenager's mother, Irene M. Erickson, issued a terse statement through Roseland.
``I did not feel that what the jury did was fair,'' Erickson said. ``They had no sympathy for our family. Irma Ziehr got 30 days, and our daughter got death.''
Ziehr was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for ramming her car into the vehicle Erickson was riding in on Aug. 20. She apparently thought the driver of the Jeep was having an affair with her estranged husband. She could have received up to 10 years in prison.
Erickson was a straight-A student caught in the middle of the argument, testimony showed. Ziehr, 25, testified that she went to a swimming pool looking for her estranged husband, David Ziehr. She spotted her husband's Jeep being driven by 21-year-old Wanda Zavala, who had left the Chesapeake pool with Erickson to get something to eat.
Ziehr followed the Jeep onto the Western Freeway in her Ford Escort and rammed it twice near the overpass at Town Point Road. The Jeep hit a guardrail near the Towne Point Road underpass. The Jeep flipped, then rolled several times, pinning both occupants inside.
Firefighters peeled the roof off the Jeep wagon, and rescuers airlifted Zavala to the hospital. Erickson died at the scene.
Prosecutor David Dayton argued to the jury that Ziehr was jealous and suspicious about her husband's infidelity. He described her as ``obsessed beyond the point of rational comprehension.''
``She cruelly and brutally murdered a 14-year-old girl,'' Dayton said.
Defense attorney Darrell Sayer argued that it was Zavala who lost control of the Jeep and caused Erickson's death.
Philip Geib, an attorney for the Ericksons, said they have filed a $2.35 million suit against both drivers. ``We intend to see they are punished civilly,'' Geib said. ``They will pay the family. No amount of money can replace their only daughter.''
``It personally angers me that someone would not think about what they're doing or recognize the consequences of their acts,'' he said.
``You don't go driving 95 miles per hour and not realize someone could die.
Only one juror could be reached, and he declined comment. Several attorneys speculated that the jury must have been influenced by the defense's argument that the other driver also was responsible for Erickson's death. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Jennifer Erickson, 14, was killed on Aug. 20, when the car she was
in was rammed by Irma Ziehr. Jennifer's mother said: ``Irma Ziehr
got 30 days, and our daughter got death.''
Color photo
Irma Ziehr's
attorneys speculate that the sentence was light because jurors
believed the driver of the other car was partially responsible.
KEYWORDS: TRIAL ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITY INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER
CONVICTION by CNB