TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa woman pleaded guilty Monday morning to a high-speed crash that ended up killing the baby of the driver she hit.
Sadie White, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of first degree manslaughter by automobile for driving 73 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone. While doing so, she hit Mariana Jabben, a pregnant DoorDash delivery driver. Because of the accident, Jabben had to deliver her baby by C-section, and once out of the womb, the baby died.
White will be formally sentenced in December. Monday, Judge Cliff Smith ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and warned White that by taking a plea, she could face four years up to life in prison, which will be determined in December.
White’s attorney Kevin Adams did not have a comment on why White decided to plea.
FOX23 interviewed Mariana Jabben and Jonathan Bilby last August. They were planning to name their baby Allison, and they worked together in a single car to deliver food for a living while commuting back and forth from Coffeyville, Kansas. The crash happened in north Tulsa.
Jabben said she was conflicted about how the law should move forward with White because of her faith.
“Because I’m a Christian, and I feel for her, and I know people make mistakes,” Jabben said. “And it’s like I’m at war with myself because I feel so much compassion for her. Like I don’t want to hold her accountable, but at the same time, I want someone to be accountable for losing my baby.”
Bilby recalls the one hour Allison lived after she was delivered.
“Whenever I held her, I was just so much in pain,” he said. “I just hoped, and I was praying, just wishing a miracle would happen. That she would just [breathe] on her own.”