Guilty plea in evidence tampering case

Shaquala Poole was given two years’ probation for her role in a New Year’s Eve road rage killing.

A woman was ordered to serve two years on probation for tampering with evidence that was eventually used to convict a Belle Vernon man of the road rage killing of a motorist in Rostraver shortly after New Year’s 2022.

Shaquala Lashawn Poole, 32, of Uniontown pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge Thursday after prosecutors agreed to dismiss felony counts of hindering apprehension and drug possession related to the fatal shooting of 59-year-old Holly Vadella of Rostraver.

Anthony Hairston, 29, was convicted of third-degree murder last year by a Westmoreland County jury and sentenced in January to serve consecutive sentences totaling 40 to 80 years in prison.

Poole, a front-seat passenger in Hairston’s vehicle at the time of the shooting, was a key witnesses who testified against him during trial last fall. She said Hairston became upset as he traveled behind a slow-moving vehicle and fired two rounds out of the passenger’s side window as he passed Vadella on Rostraver Road.

Witnesses said Vadella was driving home after a New Year’s Eve visit with her mother.

Hairston, Poole and two other women were traveling to a Rostraver bar to continue their New Year’s celebration, according to trial testimony.

Police later charged Poole, claiming she attempted to remove Hairston’s gun from a home prior to it being searched. She later turned over the weapon to investigators.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Michael Stewart II said Poole’s probation can be terminated after one year if she remains compliant with the terms of her sentence.