TAYLOR - A borough woman who was high and drunk when she caused a high-speed car crash that killed two women on Oak Street in July pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of third-degree homicide.
Sherry Hubert, 45, will face 15 to 40 years in prison as part of a sentence agreed to by her attorney, Jason Shrive, and the Lackawanna County district attorney's office, said Deputy District Attorney Robert Klein, who is prosecuting the case.
Taylor police charged Ms. Hubert with 24 counts, including third-degree murder and homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence for the July 21 crash, which resulted from her attempts to impress the children in her car by speeding up and down the hilly stretch of Oak Street.
After smoking marijuana and drinking two cans of Natural Ice beer the morning of July 21, Ms. Hubert first sped up Oak Street in an attempt to "jump the hills" to impress her three juvenile passengers, according to a criminal complaint.
After she nearly hit one car on the way up Oak Street, Ms. Hubert turned her car around and sped down the incline to attempt "belly-floppers" by going over the hills at such a speed that the momentum would force the underside of her car into the ground when it landed.
The Chevrolet Lumina was moving at about 100 mph when it collided with Kim Smith's Ford Focus, which was moving at about 11 mph, a state police accident reconstructionist testified during a preliminary hearing in the case.
The impact sent the Focus into a utility pole at 35 mph.
Ms. Smith, 48, and her sole passenger, Lydia Riley, 58, both of Taylor, were killed.
Taylor Police Sgt. William Roche "could smell the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage on (Ms. Hubert's) breath" when he spoke to her shortly after the crash, he testified at the October hearing.
"She told me she was flying and her words were, 'like a bat out of hell,' " Sgt. Roche testified.
A blood test at Regional Hospital later found her blood-alcohol content was 0.208 percent, almost three times the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent. The test also found THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana.
During the hearing, Mr. Shrive, Ms. Hubert's attorney, argued that the two counts of third-degree murder were not warranted, as the offense lacked malice.
Mr. Klein, the prosecutor, successfully argued that Ms. Hubert's decision to pull her car over to create distance between it and another car before speeding up the hill established that malice, as she was aware of the risk the speed she intended to reach would create in the event of a collision.
The two counts were bound over for trial as well as the remaining 22, which will be dropped after sentencing.
Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse ordered a pre-sentence investigation prior to Ms. Hubert's sentencing, a date for which had not been set as of Monday, Mr. Klein said.
She remains in the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Contact the writer: domalley@timesshamrock.com, @domalleytt on Twitter