Superior Court upholds dismissal for co-defendant in Donora homicide
An appellate court has upheld a Washington County judge’s decision to dismiss homicide and conspiracy charges against one of three people accused in the killing of a Donora convenience store worker more than five years ago.
The state Superior Court ruled Tuesday that the case against Jah Zhanee Inifi Sutton should be dismissed because there was no prima facie evidence linking her to the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Nicholas Tarpley on Feb. 24, 2021.
Sutton, 32, of Homewood, was charged with homicide and facing the possibility of the death penalty after prosecutors said her DNA was found on one of the bullet casings discharged in Anna Lee’s Convenience Store in Donora, where two gunmen shot and killed Tarpley.
Sidney Devon McLean, 37, of McKeesport, and Devell Dexter Christian, 37, of White Oak, were charged in July 2021 and accused of shooting Tarpley multiple times while he made a sandwich for a customer. Both are still awaiting trial on homicide and other charges.
During Sutton’s formal arraignment in April 2022, prosecutors unexpectedly added the criminal homicide charge against her and announced they intended to seek the death penalty if she was convicted of first-degree murder.
While Sutton was never accused of being inside or near the store when the shooting occurred, prosecutors theorized that she may have assisted in the planning of the shooting because she was in a relationship with McLean and involved in selling drugs with Christian. But the Superior Court backed a decision last July by Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Traci McDonald that there was not enough direct evidence tying her to the killing.
“The Commonwealth’s evidence allows one to surmise that Appellee helped plan the homicide,” the court wrote in its ruling. “However, arriving at the conclusion that Appellee aided or agreed to aid McLean and Christian in shooting (the) victim, or in the planning of the killing, requires mental leaps slightly too protracted to be deemed logical inferences rather than mere supposition.”
The ruling does allow investigators to refile charges against Sutton if they are able to produce “additional evidence beyond that offered against her at the hearings” during the onset of the case.
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh, who appealed McDonald’s ruling dismissing the case against Sutton, said he plans to eventually refile the charges, although there is no rush because Sutton is currently serving a 10-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to federal drug charges in 2024.
“We’re going to get justice for the victim,” Walsh said. “Our intent is to refile and hold them accountable.”
McLean, who is still facing the death penalty if convicted, is scheduled to go to trial in Tarpley’s killing in January. The prosecution withdrew its intention to seek the death penalty against Christian following testing of his intellectual abilities, although the results have not been made public. It’s not known when Christian will go to trial.
Sutton’s attorney, Timothy Dawson, could not be reached for comment Wednesday, while her other lawyer, Valerie Veltri, said she had not yet reviewed the Superior Court’s order.