Fairhill man gets long sentence for role in fatal carjacking crash
For most people, the 21st birthday is the real beginning of adulthood. But when Jonathan Rosa turned 21 Thursday, it marked his entry into the netherworld of the state prison system: He was given a 45- to 90-year sentence for his role in the 2014 carjacking that ended in a crash that killed a mother and her three children as they sold fruit on a North Philadelphia sidewalk.
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For most people, the 21st birthday is the real beginning of adulthood.
But when Jonathan Rosa turned 21 Thursday, it marked his entry into the netherworld of the state prison system: He was given a 45- to 90-year sentence for his role in the 2014 carjacking that ended in a crash that killed a mother and her three children as they sold fruit on a North Philadelphia sidewalk.
"I messed up. I have made some very idiotic decisions," Rosa told Common Pleas Court Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi before she imposed the sentence, negotiated as part of his guilty plea. "I know I deserve to pay for what I did. I'm truly sorry for everything."
The veteran homicide judge seemed sobered by Rosa's circumstances: supportive family, churchgoing, no criminal record until he met his accomplice, Cornelius Crawford.
Rosa, of Fairhill, said he was introduced to Crawford, 25, three days before the July 25, 2014, criminal escapade, which began when he and Crawford carjacked and sexually assaulted a real estate agent, and ended at Allegheny and Germantown Avenues with the deaths of Keisha Williams and children Keiearra Williams, 15; Thomas Joseph Reed, 10; and Terrence Williams, 7.
The speeding stolen Toyota 4Runner plowed into the family as they sold fruit to raise money for their church. The children died almost instantly; their 34-year-old mother lingered a few more days before dying.
DeFino-Nastasi told Rosa that Crawford came up with the idea and drove the stolen SUV, and added that "in a sense, you were not the major player."
But Rosa decided to stay with Crawford and then followed Crawford in assaulting the real estate agent as she was held captive in the speeding SUV.
"At every point, you had a choice to make," the judge added. "You could have walked away, but you went along for the ride. You made that decision."
Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore presented victim-impact testimony from Rochelle Williams, Keisha Williams' sister, and Terrance Moore, the father of one of the children, who described the impact of their deaths.
"This tragedy has changed our lives forever," Williams said, describing how another sister was struggling to care for Keisha Williams' two other daughters.
Defense attorney Christopher D. Warren read a letter from Jonathan Rosa's mother, Amanda, to the victims' family, begging for forgiveness: "I can't apologize enough to you all."
Warren said Jonathan Rosa was immediately remorseful, and recalled how he cried out an apology to the family when he waived his preliminary hearing. He pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Crawford.
Rosa's guilty plea was a factor in Crawford's decision to plead guilty March 1 to four counts of third-degree murder, robbery and carjacking, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and conspiracy.
DeFino-Nastasi immediately imposed the negotiated 50- to 100-year prison term on Crawford.
"This was a catastrophe," DeFino-Nastasi told Rosa on Thursday. "It's beyond tragedy. All those children's lives, because of those two choices."
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