A Georgia man accused of driving drunk and causing a deadly wrong-way crash on the Outer Loop of the Capital Beltway in Maryland, will remain behind bars.
This comes after a judge not only heard about what 23-year-old Jayleen Hannor is accused of in Montgomery County, but also in his home state.
According to prosecutors, Hannor had a blood alcohol level of .17, more than two times the legal limit when he caused two crashes, killing one person and injuring nine others.
Via video link from a detention center, Hannor only told the judge his name and answered yes or no questions during his bond hearing.
On Tuesday night, Hannor got onto the Interstate 270 going the wrong direction. That led to numerous calls to police.
Before troopers could get there, after moving onto the Outer Loop, Hannor’s Mercedes hit a Nissan Pathfinder head-on.
The driver of the Nissan SUV, 36-year-old Elizabeth Velez, of Easton, Pennsylvania, was killed. Velez’s three children, who are between the ages of 2 and 15, and a man in the car with them were hurt.
Montgomery County State’s attorney John McCarthy said Velez’s 15-year-old daughter was seriously injured in the crash and has already undergone two surgeries.
After hitting the first SUV, Hannor is accused of crashing into another before jumping out of the vehicle and attempting to flee on foot. Montgomery County Police found him near the exit to Connecticut Avenue.
According to court documents, Hannor showed signs of impairment when he was arrested by police.
Hannor’s public defender asked the court to release him, as the case against him moved forward. Hannor, according to his attorney, was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army after serving more than five years and has been staying in Baltimore as he awaited security clearances for a potential job at the Pentagon.
Prosecutors appeared to shock Montgomery County District Court Judge Karen A. Ferretti, when they revealed to her that he is also awaiting trial in two separate DUI cases in Chatham County, Georgia, from 2022.
During the court hearing, Judge Ferretti said the two pending Georgia cases and the fact that Hannor ran from the scene of the crash in Montgomery County was enough to show he poses a threat to the public if released.
“I think very properly the judge said, ‘three [driving while intoxicated] arrests, two involving accidents, as far as we know it right now, there’s a public safety risk here,'” said McCarthy.
Right now, Hannor is only charged with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident, but McCarthy said once the Maryland State Police investigation concludes, they will look at charging Hannor further. McCarthy said additional charges are “very likely.”
Georgia Cases
WTOP obtained information about the two court cases in Georgia against Hannor.
The first case took place on July 4, 2022, according to a citation from the Savannah Police Department. In that incident, Hannor is accused of causing a crash that resulted in the car he hit overturning.
According to the Savannah Police Department, the arresting officer said, during a field sobriety test, Hannor showed signs of being unable to maintain his balance and the test was stopped because the officer said they feared he would fall into traffic.
“I told Jayleen Hannor I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath. He replied, ‘Oh well,'” the officer stated in their report.
When at the Georgia station, Hannor is accused of going back and forth on whether he would take either a blood test or Breathalyzer, at one point requesting medical help for what he claimed was “stomach pain and a panic attack.”
Hannor’s actions at the station, were described by the officer as “shenanigans.” The officer also said the three-hour window to take his blood to check for intoxication would pass without a successful test.
Then, two months later on Sept. 17, Hannor was arrested by Georgia State Patrol for allegedly driving under the influence, again.
Hannor’s attorney in Georgia, Snehal Patel told WTOP that both cases involved misdemeanor charges, and both have yet to go to trial.
