NORRISTOWN — A Whitemarsh Township woman was sent to prison for leaving the scene, not rendering aid and not calling 911, after she struck and killed a man who was crossing a township roadway.
Jennifer Ann Parker, 45, of the 1700 block of Butler Pike, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Monday to 3½ to 10 years in the State Correctional Institution at Muncy on charges of accidents involving death or personal injury, or hit-and-run, and driving under the influence of marijuana in connection with the 8:57 p.m. Feb. 17, 2023, pedestrian crash that killed Anthony Jonello.
“You hit him and drove away. There were so many points that evening where you could have done the right thing,” Judge Risa Vetri Ferman addressed Parker, explaining Parker didn’t stop to render aid to Jonello and didn’t call 911 for help. “So many opportunities to do the right thing.”
The sentence included the three-year mandatory term allowable under state law for a hit-and-run that involves death. The judge added an additional six months to the minimum sentence, citing the egregiousness of Parker’s deceptive behavior when confronted by police after the incident.
When questioned by police, Parker claimed damage to her vehicle occurred five minutes prior on Butler Pike while she was behind a junk collection truck. Parker told police she believed the damage occurred when something fell off the truck and struck her vehicle.
Investigators reportedly found no evidence of junk on the roadway.
Ferman said the jury didn’t believe Parker’s claim of a “phantom” truck and determined Parker knew that she had hit a person.
“A sentence higher than the mandatory is appropriate here,” Ferman said.
A jury convicted Parker of the charges during a three-day trial in January.
Parker also received a consecutive sentence of 72 hours to six months in prison on the DUI charge.
The case did not involve allegations that Parker was impaired by marijuana at the time of the crash, only that she was driving with any amount of a controlled substance in her system, which is against the law.
Grief-stricken relatives of Jonello wept as they confronted Parker in court, describing Jonello a kind man who loved gummy candy, grape soda, deep sea fishing, the beach and working on his car.
“He was so smart…he was extremely sentimental and saved everything. He was a quiet, gentle soul. He would do just about anything if you asked him,” Jill Caruso, Jonello’s sister, choked back tears as she showed photos of her brother to courtroom spectators.
Jonello’s daughter, Lily, said there isn’t a day that goes by she doesn’t think about her father, how he missed her college graduation and will miss other milestones in her life.
“I would give anything to talk to him one more time,” Lily Jonello said, adding she is haunted by the way her father died. “For the rest of my life I’ll wonder if he was scared.”
A letter from Jonello’s mother, Lucille, was read in court, and in it she expressed that she still agonizes over the last moments of her son’s life.
“Your actions took our son’s life in such a swift, horrific moment. You left him there alone. That’s the image I can’t escape,” Lucille Jonello wrote.
Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Glenning argued for a sentence greater than the mandatory three years.
“We wanted a sentence that would reflect the efforts that the defendant went to, to deny what she did and the opportunities that she let go by where she could have stopped and called 911. I think the mandatory didn’t encapsulate her full conduct here,” said Glenning, adding a stiff sentence can serve as a deterrent for other drivers that they have a duty to stop and give aid when they are in a crash “and this type of conduct won’t be tolerated.”
In a brief statement Parker apologized.
“I am so deeply sorry. There’s not an hour that goes by that I don’t think of the pain and sorrow that I caused your family,” Parker addressed Jonello’s relatives.
Defense lawyer Meredith Dominguez argued for a sentence no greater than the three-year mandatory term for Parker.
“Miss Parker is not a bad person. She would never intentionally hurt another person. It’s something that will haunt her the rest of her life,” Dominguez argued.
Dominguez asked the judge to give Parker one day to report to prison so that she could spend one last night saying goodbye to her three teenage daughters. Glenning opposed the delay, arguing “this is something that she had known was coming for months.”
Ferman denied Parker’s request and sheriff’s deputies immediately took Parker into custody to begin serving the sentence.
During the trial, Glenning argued evidence, including damage to Parker’s vehicle, indicated she knew that she hit a person and still left.
Parker, who was represented during the trial by defense lawyer Alexander Lassoff, did not testify during the trial.
The investigation began about 8:57 p.m. Feb. 17 when Whitemarsh police responded to the scene of a hit-and-run pedestrian crash in front of a residence in the 1800 block of Butler Pike. Arriving officers found an unresponsive male, later identified as Jonello, lying in the northbound lane of Butler Pike, a two-lane divided roadway, according to the criminal complaint filed by Whitemarsh Police Officer John Hartman.
“Jonello was found in the middle of the northbound lane and was observed to have significant head trauma, along with other injuries,” Hartman alleged. “Jonello was dressed in dark pants and a dark hooded sweatshirt along with a reflective yellow vest. Police were informed that the striking vehicle fled the scene of the crash.”
Jonello was transported to a local hospital where he eventually succumbed due to his injuries, Hartman said.
An autopsy determined Jonello suffered a broken neck, a skull fracture, a broken pelvis, a lower right leg fracture and multiple abrasions, injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle on the right side of his body.
At about 9:09 p.m. police observed a black Honda Pilot vehicle with heavy front-end damage, operated by Parker, traveling in the area of the crash and stopped the vehicle as it was attempting to exit the Sherry Lake Apartment complex onto Butler Pike.
“The Honda Pilot had front bumper, grill and hood damage consistent with striking a pedestrian,” Hartman alleged. “Also found on the vehicle was a yellow neon fabric lodged in the damaged portion of the front hood, along with fabric residue that appeared to match the color of Jonello’s reflective vest.”
While Parker claimed the damage was the result of hitting debris that fell from a junk truck, she also continued on her journey to pick up her daughter from work at the Plymouth Square Shopping Center, court papers indicate.
On her return home, Parker was stopped by police who noticed the damage to her vehicle.
A subsequent blood test found metabolites of marijuana in Parker’s bloodstream, according to court documents.
The investigation found no pre-impact braking by Parker’s vehicle at the scene and evidence of Jonello’s shoe dragging along the roadway during the impact, police said.
Police said they found a flashlight, similar to one found at the crash site, at the bottom of the windshield, near the windshield wipers, of Parker’s vehicle. Relatives of Jonello told police Jonello was known to carry flashlights with him.
The investigation determined that Jonello left an area store in the 1700 block of Butler Pike at 8:51 p.m., walked north on Butler Pike and crossed Butler Pike in the area of Kirk Street, from the west side toward the east side. Jonello cleared the southbound lane and the center two-way left turn lane when he was struck in the northbound lane by Parker’s Honda, authorities alleged.
“Jonello briefly went onto the hood before being thrown into the air over the vehicle and landing onto the pavement. Parker continued north from the scene without stopping, providing aid or contacting police,” Hartman alleged.
Investigators obtained video surveillance footage from several sources during the investigation. One video depicted Parker at the Plymouth Square Shopping Center after the crash, exiting her vehicle to use her phone to take a photograph of the damage to her vehicle before returning to the vehicle, according to the arrest affidavit.
