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Posted on 04/03/2026 12:49:23 PM PDT by lightman
Jaheim Alford told his passengers, “I am going to kill everyone in the car” as he shifted his car into sport mode and accelerated through a red light into a York city intersection the night of Sept. 8, 2024, according to police.
He smashed his red Hyundai sedan into a blue Honda Odyssey carrying two people — one of whom was pregnant, and later lost the child, police said. He was smoking marijuana before he got behind the wheel, police said.
Alford, 24, of Latta, South Carolina, was originally arrested on 16 charges, led by three counts of attempted homicide.
But more than 18 months later, at Alford’s Tuesday morning preliminary hearing, Magisterial District Judge Thomas Harteis ruled there is probable cause enough to send 60 charges against Alford to York County court, including first and third-degree murder of an unborn child.
At some point leading up to Tuesday’s hearing, prosecutors filed 44 more counts against Alford, although online court records don’t say when or how.
Under Pennsylvania law, the mandatory minimum sentence for first-degree murder of an unborn child is life in prison, and up to 40 years for a third-degree murder conviction.
The York County District Attorney’s Office didn’t return PennLive’s questions about the reason for the delays in Alford’s case.
Preliminary hearings are usually held in the weeks following an arrest to establish probable cause. But Alford’s first attorney, Jonathan White, challenged Alford’s mental competency to stand trial early in the process.
It’s unclear when the competency issue was resolved, but Alford must have been ruled competent to participate in his court proceedings for the preliminary hearing to have occurred.
Alford’s bail was previously set to $250,000, but he never posted and has been held at York County Prison since his arrest. His bail has since been revoked because he is facing murder charges that could carry a life sentence in prison. He’s scheduled to appear for a May 5 arraignment before Judge Kathleen Prendergast.
Documents police filed at the time of Alford’s arrest said on the day of the crash, Alford got into an argument with his girlfriend over cheating allegations in an apartment on the 400 block of East Princess Street in York. Police said he smoked marijuana during the argument.
After the argument, he grabbed the keys to a red Hyundai sedan and drove three people to pick up one of the passenger’s brothers from work at around 6:48 p.m., police said.
Alford drove erratically, and the passengers pleaded for him to slow down as the car approached a red light at North Sherman and East Philadelphia streets, police said. Instead, he shifted the car into sport mode, said he’d kill everyone in the car, and accelerated into a blue Honda Odyssey in the intersection, police said.
The crash caused multiple critical injuries. Police said all occupants were admitted to hospitals with varying injuries, including Intensive Care Unit admission and intubation. Both vehicles sustained severe, disabling damage.
A pregnant woman in the front passenger seat of the Honda Odyssey lost the child, according to police.
Alford is now being represented by Amanda Jones, whom PennLive was unable to reach for comment on the story. White stopped representing Alford before the competency issue was resolved.
Jonathan Bergmueller
Pennsylvania Ping!
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Dave Sunday informed of the murder charges on Election Day, 2024.
That meant almost as much as the Trump victory.
However the fetus was only a mass of cells if aborted. Strange how a fetus becomes a person then not a person.
“Jaheim “
Figured no picture was necessary. I was right.
Is she wanted to kill it no problem. So it’s about what’s in her mind. Sounds like a hate crime
including first and third-degree murder of an unborn child.
= = =
OK - First AND third-degree?
Better add in second-degree, it is between them.
Can’t these prosecutors pick one charge and go with it?
Or do they give the juries a buffet?
I also suspect that the prosecutor has AI look up all possible charges and combinations of charges.
Look for charges for mispelling and wrong verb tenses.
First and Third leaves room for a plea bargain without reducing to voluntary manslaughter or ag assault.
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