The driver responsible for a crash that killed two Oakton High School students in 2022 will serve four years in prison, as recommended by a jury in April.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows finalized the sentence at a hearing on Friday (Sept. 6) afternoon and ordered that 20-year-old Fairfax resident Usman Shahid also get three years of supervised probation following his release, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office announced.
Shahid was convicted on two counts of involuntary manslaughter on April 24 for the June 7, 2022 deaths of 14-year-old Ada Gabriela Martinez Nolasco and 15-year-old Leeyan Hanjia Yan.
“This case has been on my mind, day and night, for more than two years,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement. “While there is nothing that can heal the broken hearts of Ada and Leeyan’s families, friends, and loved ones, I hope that this outcome can help our community finally begin to close what has been an incredibly painful chapter.”
During the trial, a crash expert testified that Shahid was speeding at 81 mph when he crashed into a Toyota 4Runner in the Blake Lane and Five Oaks Road intersection. The impact drove the SUV onto a sidewalk where Ada Gabriela, Leeyan and another Oakton High School student were walking.
Ada Gabriela and Leeyan died at a hospital, and the other student was left with serious injuries. Shahid, who was 18 at the time and had just graduated from Oakton High School, and one of the passenger in the BMW he was driving were also hospitalized.
A data recorder in Shahid’s vehicle showed that he accelerated from 60 mph to 81 mph in the five seconds immediately before the crash and didn’t attempt to brake, according to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
Shahid was indicted on June 21, 2022. The involuntary manslaughter charges carried a maximum possible sentence of 10 years, but under Virginia law, the judge couldn’t impose more incarceration time than the two years for each charge recommended by the jury.
According to other news reports, prosecutors told the jury in April that the victims’ families weren’t seeking the maximum sentence, but one mother called the jury’s recommendation “a slap in the face” at Friday’s sentencing hearing.
The Washington Post reported that Youngjean Lee, Leeyan’s mother, described her 15 years with her daughter as “the happiest, most brilliant time of my entire life,” while defense attorneys argued for leniency.
Shahid apologized to the families during the hearing, saying that he “made a very, very immature decision” and has “been deeply reflecting on my wrongful actions,” NBC4 reported.
The fatal crash revived community frustrations with a lack of progress on safety improvements for Blake Lane, even though residents had raised concerns for decades and some changes were proposed just a year earlier.
Since the crash, Fairfax County has expanded an increased-fine zone for speeding on Blake Lane, and relocated several school bus stops. A speed camera was installed near the Sutton Road intersection outside Oakton High School on April 29.
A Blake Lane Pedestrian Road Safety Audit finalized in April identified specific areas of concern as well as dozens of potential improvements, including a look at the traffic signal timing at Five Oaks Road that could consider giving pedestrians a head start.
A redesign of the Blake Lane and Sutton Road intersection is in the works, according to the report. As of April, construction on the improvements, including a new crosswalk on the south side, the elimination of a right-turn slip lane and the addition of “audible” push buttons for pedestrians, was expected to start in the summer of 2025.
