RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Court documents show a former corrections officer plans to plead guilty in a fatal distracted driving case on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Sophia Janis, of Porcupine, has admitted to killing 58-year-old Theresa Martinez by recklessly driving an Oglala Sioux Tribe corrections SUV on the reservation in July 2015. Prosecutors say Janis was looking at Facebook on her cellphone when she crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with a minivan.
Martinez, a passenger in the van, was killed. The driver survived and had to have her right leg amputated.
A second female passenger was also injured.
Janis is scheduled to plead guilty at the federal courthouse in Rapid City on April 28.
