By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com
A Sacramento jury convicted Michael Eugene Jastraub of second-degree murder today for the May 15, 2008, traffic collision he caused that killed Janell Denise Cummings.
Jastraub, 42, was under the influence of methamphetamine, methadone, muscle relaxers and anti-anxiety medication when he ran into Cummings' Toyota on Florin Road and sent her into a spin and into the path of a truck that ran into her and killed her.
Cummings (photo right), 30, was a Chico State graduate who was in the process of earning her Master's degree at Sacramento State when she died.
"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to enjoy her more," her father, Ivory Cummings, a retired sergeant from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said after the verdict.
Deputy District Attorney Caroline Park said she was "very relieved" by the verdict.
"She was a very good person," Park said of Cummings.
Superior Court Judge Trena Burger-Plavan scheduled Jastraub's sentencing for Aug. 30, after the defendant refused a prosecution request to delay the hearing into September to accommodate Ivory Cummings' vacation plan.
Noel Mee, one of the jurors who convicted Jastraub, said "I didn't see any sign of regret" on the defendant's part, either during the trial or when the verdict was announced today.
"I didn't see any sign that he would have done anything differently," Mee said.
Cummings' 12-year-old niece and a friend of the girl also were injured in the crash. The wreck took place in the afternoon after Cummings had picked the girls up from school.
Besides the murder, Jastraub also was convicted on two felony counts of injuring people while driving under the influence of the drugs, two counts of felony possession of drugs and misdemeanor counts of drug and paraphernalia possession, driving without a license, hit and run and driving without insurance, which was an infraction.
Assistant Public Defender Amy Rogers declined to comment after the verdict.
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
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