‘We exposed the truth:’ Woman found guilty in Red Lion students’ deaths

York Daily Record ^ | 20 July A.D. 2017 | Dylan Segelbaum

[lightman]

Jodie Tierney stood with her hands clasped as the jury foreman announced the verdict.

Two counts of endangering the welfare of children. Guilty. Two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Guilty. Corruption of minors. Guilty. Selling or furnishing liquor to minors. Guilty.

Tierney, 46, of Windsor Township, was found criminally responsible on Thursday for the deaths of Stone Hill, 17, of Delta, and Nick Mankin, 16, of Felton, who died in a car crash after drinking at her home on June 16, 2015. They were both going into their senior year at Red Lion Area Senior High School and played football with her oldest son, Stephen II.

The jury deliberated for about 1 1/2 hours. When the verdict was read at about 3:40 p.m., people in the courtroom started to cry. Outside, Glenn and Tina Hill, Stone's parents, and Bryan and Carol Tracey, Nick's parents, embraced loved ones.

"What we're most grateful for right now, of course, is No. 1, we exposed the truth of what occurred,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker said in an interview, adding that there’s a “high probability” the commonwealth will ask for a period of incarceration.

During the almost two-week trial, Barker and Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sarah Buhite argued that Tierney allowed and encouraged underage drinking — stating that she even bought alcohol for the teenagers on three occasions — at her home on Percheron Drive.

It’s a pattern of conduct, they said, that led to the fatal crash.

Stone, who was driving a 2002 Toyota 4Runner, had a blood alcohol content of 0.094 percent, the Pennsylvania State Police said. Before the crash, he was drinking beer and took four to five shots of rum at the Tierney residence, according to testimony.

Prosecutors never alleged that Tierney — who was at work for most of the day — bought alcohol for the teens on that occasion.

But the prosecution called a witness, Joe Argento, who testified that he had to pick up his son, 16, at the Tierneys’ that afternoon because he passed out after drinking at least half a bottle of rum. When Argento was at the house, Stephen Tierney, her husband, turned and said, "This has got to stop," according to testimony. The crash happened less than three hours later.

“All she needed to do was be a parent. Pick up the phone,” Barker said in his closing argument. “They’re dead. Because she wouldn’t.”

Meanwhile, Douglas Bare, Jodie Tierney’s attorney, suggested that Stone and Nick were part of the “party crowd” and had been drinking at other places before they started going to his client’s home.

Bare questioned whether Stone was driving the SUV — police said they had “insufficient evidence” to make a determination — and noted that he did not seem to be “visibly intoxicated.” It appears that investigators did not order tests to determine Nick’s blood alcohol level.

Later, Bare called an expert in medical toxicology who testified that the blood alcohol concentration for Stone was not reliable. The defense said other factors, including texting, could have caused the crash.

He conceded that his client bought alcohol for minors on one occasion: April 2, 2015. But Bare noted that she did not provide them with booze on June 16, 2015, nor did she force Stone and Nick to drink and drive.

“The bottom line here is if there’s no signs of intoxication, if she’s not home, if she didn’t furnish the alcohol, it’s not guilty,” Bare said in his closing argument.

Outside the courtroom, Bare said he was “not exactly sure how the jury got to this particular verdict with these facts and this law,” but added that’s the way the system is set up. He said there’s a message to the trial.

"My initial reaction with this trial is that I hope all parents are educated in that there is a drinking and driving and texting epidemic in high schools that needs to stop,” he said. “Because we need to prevent any other future people from dying in the same circumstance."

Common Pleas Judge Maria Musti Cook set sentencing for Aug. 29. Jodie Tierney, who declined to be interviewed, is free on $25,000 bail.

[lightman]

Jodie Tierney

Prosecutor: “All she needed to do was be a parent. Pick up the phone,” Barker said in his closing argument. “They’re dead. Because she wouldn’t.”

But it's really bad when your defense attorney has this to say about the verdict:

"My initial reaction with this trial is that I hope all parents are educated in that there is a drinking and driving and texting epidemic in high schools that needs to stop,” he said. “Because we need to prevent any other future people from dying in the same circumstance."

[PAR35]

Her looks certainly didn’t help the defense. Sounds like her husband should have been the defendant since he was there when the underage drinking was going on.

[lightman]

Husband has entered a plea to furnishing alcohol to minors for a deal dropping manslaughter and endangering welfare of children charges.

He will be sentenced on the same day and time.

I predict this marriage has ended.

[tomkat]

That's felony porcine, right there .. skated on that obviously guilty charge   :-\

[PAR35]

Thanks. That makes sense. One has to feel sorry for their son, even if he is a stereotypical high school jock.

[BenLurkin]

“All she needed to do was be a parent.”

Whose parent?

[lightman]

One has to feel sorry for their son, even if he is a stereotypical high school jock.

Additional tragic element # 1: There are younger children as well.

Additional tragic element # 2: A high school jock doesn't need his mom to run the "party house" in order to be popular.

[PAR35]

Odds are the judge will let one of the parents off with probation. If the judge is sexist, it will be the mother. If the judge is pragmatic, it will be the father.

Meanwhile, the parents of the dead teens probably need to spend some time looking in the mirror.

Thanks for the additional information.

[GnuThere]

Trying to be the cool mom is an empty, dangerous pursuit that I have seen several times. Luckily no dead kids in the ones I’ve witnessed, but broken marriages and one woman now raising her grandchildren because her daughters grew up in the “party house” and have addiction problems. In another, a well-to-do wife who seemed to have it all, busted having sex and doing weed with one of her teenage son’s friends.

[sauropod]

I do not think she is guilty.

[Secret Agent Man]

the blame is on the correct person here. stop blaming guys for what women do.

[jocon307]

“If the judge is sexist, it will be the mother. If the judge is pragmatic, it will be the father.”

Why do you say that? The father was present at the time the drinking was happening, she was not. He seems a good deal guiltier to me.

[PAR35]

Why do you say that?

Several reasons.

First, if he copped a plea and she took it to trial, he's most likely to be the one that gets cut some slack. The system has a vested interest in discouraging trials. Particularly 2 week long trials.

Second, he's the one most likely to be able to support the family and keep it together while the other parent is 'away'.

Third, his plea was to furnishing alcohol to a minors and corruption of minors. Fairly low level charges. She's looking at time for two counts of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. A quick google search indicates she could get up to 5 years on each of the manslaughter charges (It apparently is a first degree misdemeanor there).

[jocon307]

Well maybe this is just me being stupid and lazy and not reading the article but how does the person who is not present and did not purchase the alcohol get charged with involuntary manslaughter while the person who DID purchase the alcohol and corrupt the minors does not get charged with that?

[PAR35]

The magic of the modern legal system. The Mad Mothers have stacked the deck in DUI cases. A DUI with a death? Someone is going to go down ‘pour encourager les autres’ as Voltaire would put it.

That’s probably why she went to trial and will have a shot on appeal, at least you came to the same conclusion as her experienced defense attorney: “Bare said he was “not exactly sure how the jury got to this particular verdict with these facts and this law,” “