LAFAYETTE, Ind (WLFI) — A jury on Friday found a female Lafayette guilty of all charges in the August 2020 shooting that killed a pizza delivery driver.
The jury returned the verdict after around two hours of deliberation in the murder trial of 18-year-old Jaelynn Billup.
On the final day of the four-day trial, a sense of turmoil filled the courtroom as family and friends held hands and consoled each other ahead of the verdict.
Family members on both sides were in tears as the jury returned guilty verdicts on nine counts, including murder, felony murder and armed robbery.
Billups turned off the camera with both hands as she left the courtroom as family members said, “I love you” and “Call me.”
She was found guilty today of conspiring to rob a Dominos delivery driver with her boyfriend, 19-year-old Alberto Vanmeter.
But things turned sour when the driver, Joshua Ungersma, 37, shot and killed Vanmeter in self-defense.
It was then that witnesses say Billups shot and killed Ungersma, execution style, in the middle of North 16th Street.
Tippecanoe County District Attorney Pat Harrington hopes the verdict will shut down Ungersma’s family.
“First, a man was just delivering a pizza trying to support his family,” says Harrington. “He had a newborn baby at home. And for the price of a $10 pizza, he lost his life.”
Both sides also made closing arguments on Friday.
Prosecutors said Billups’ testimony on Thursday was carefully tailored to the evidence, pointing out that many of his statements did not match.
The defense argued that what appeared to be a robbery was a delivery gone horribly wrong, insisting a terrified Billups shot Ungersma in self-defense.
“The evidence was overwhelming in this case because I think a lot of people in the courtroom heard,” Harrington says, “but even with that there are no winners here in a tragedy where the lives of ‘one person has been taken.’
A sentencing hearing is set for December 3 at 1:30 p.m.
