FAIRMONT, W.Va. — A Marion County judge has granted a motion to dismiss murder charges against a man who was accused of causing a double fatal accident in 2016 in a vehicle he had stolen earlier in the day.
Judge Patrick Wilson granted the defendant’s motion, filed last week, after Ryan Hubbs’ attorneys argued that the charges constituted double jeopardy.
Hubbs, 35, formerly of Paris, Ohio, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree robbery stemming from the October 2016 carjacking in Weston. He was sentenced to between 10 and 18 years by a Lewis County Judge last November.
Later that day, Hubbs was in a car accident in the vehicle he stole, resulting in the deaths of 64-year-old David Glasscock and 66-year-old Sandra Glassock, a couple from Farmington in Marion County.
The accident occurred in White Hall in Marion County.
The state had argued that the robbery committed in Lewis County is “part of the same transaction or occurrence whcih led to the deaths of David and Sandra Glasscock.”
According to Judge Wilson’s ruling:
“The West Virginia Supreme Court has previously held… that double jeopardy prohibits an accused charged with felony-murder… from being separately tried or punished for both murder and the underlying enumerated felony.”
Judge Wilson ruled that the robbery charged constituted an “underlying enumerated felony.”
Wilson continued in his order,
“In order to effectively prosecute the Marion County charge of felony murder, the underlying enumerated felony of robbery would have to be retried and/or would result in trial of the felony murder and underlying felony charges in separate prosecutions.”
Wilson also said that it would have been beneficial to the state for the two counties to work together.
“…Had the charges been amended, had the robbery charge been held until an opportunity to pursue the more serious charge of felony murder had been exercised, or had either county deferred venue of its charge to the other so the two charges could be prosecuted in tandem… we may find ourselves in an entirely different posture.”
Wilson also acknowledged the “sensitive nature” of the case and the gravity of his decision, noting that two innocent people are dead.