Dismissal of charges upheld in Donora homicide case
An appeals court sided with Jah Zhanee Inifi Sutton, but the charges could be refiled later.
By STACY WOLFORD
swolford@yourmvi.com
A Washington County judge’s decision to dismiss homicide charges against a Homewood woman for her alleged role in the 2021 fatal shooting of a Donora convenience store worker was upheld this week by the state appellate court.
In a 17-page ruling, the state Superior Court ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case that Jah Zhanee Inifi Sutton, 32, was an accomplice or co-conspirator in the homicide of 28-year-old Nicholas Tarpley on Feb. 24, 2021.
Sutton, who was charged in the case almost a year after the incident with homicide and was facing the possibility of the death penalty, spent almost four years in jail before Washington County Judge Traci McDonald dismissed the charges against her in July 2025.
Sidney Devon McLean, 37, of McKeesport, and Devell Dexter Christian, 37, of White Oak, are accused of shooting Tarpley, who was working behind the deli counter at Anna Lee’s Convenience Store in Donora, Feb. 24, 2021, in the back, striking him six times.
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh previously said in court that Tarpley was not the intended target and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Both men are charged with criminal homicide, but now only McLean is still facing the death penalty if he is convicted of first-degree murder. McLean is scheduled to go to trial in Tarpley’s killing in January.
Christian and McLean are being held without bond while they await trial.
Sutton was arraigned in April 2022, at which time prosecutors added the homicide charge against her and announced they intended to seek the death penalty if she was convicted of first-degree murder. Despite not being present at the time of the shooting, prosecutors believed Sutton may have assisted in the planning of the shooting because of her relationship with McLean at the time.
The district attorney’s office appealed the Washington County judge’s ruling to dismiss the charges, arguing the trial court erred in its assessment of the evidence. The Superior Court affirmed the dismissal, agreeing that the evidence was speculative and did not meet the threshold for a prima facie case, nor was there evidence she was involved in drug sales with McLean or Christian.
“The Commonwealth insists that the trial court analyses overlook an additional tie (Sutton) has to victim’s shooters, namely that, along with being McLean’s intimate partner, she also has a ‘close connection’ with Christian evinced by their federal indictment on drug charges related to their joint possession of a large amount of contraband in between the time of Victim’s killing and McLean’s arrest,” the court decision states. “We agree that this additional information presents a stronger showing that (Sutton) was not merely associated with one of the shooters, but may have been an active participant in the drug enterprise with which victim assisted in interfering, thus prompting a retaliation. The problem is that the Commonwealth’s basis for including these references to (Sutton’s) purported connection to Christian derives not from evidence offered at any hearing in this case, but solely from pleadings filed in the federal court case.”
Sutton is currently serving a 10-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to federal drug charges in 2024.
The state Superior Court’s ruling does permit the district attorney’s office investigators to refile charges against Sutton if they are able to produce “additional evidence beyond that offered against her at the hearings.”
When contacted Friday, Walsh said he does plan to refile charges against Sutton, but said time isn’t an issue as she is in federal prison for 10 years for a drug crime committed with a codefendant in this same case, plus the McLean case goes to trial in January.
“We will always seek justice for victims and hold those who are responsible accountable,” Walsh said.
