Woman gets 8 to 16 years for driving over, killing boyfriend in Homewood

Ausha Brown had only been dating Von Washington, she said, for about five weeks when she killed him.

On Monday, as Brown was ordered to serve eight to 16 years in prison for third-degree murder, she told the court that in the moments before she ran Washington over in her black SUV, he had assaulted her.

“Von was in the street. He was beating on me,” Brown told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Elliot Howsie. “I was scared because he was beating on me.

“I did not intentionally take his life.”

Brown pleaded guilty on Aug. 29 to one count of third-degree murder and causing a fatal accident while not properly licensed. Witnesses in Homewood told police they saw the couple arguing about 10:40 p.m. on April 19, 2021, and then saw Brown drive her vehicle up onto the sidewalk on Kelly Street.

Brown hit Washington, 31, ran him over and fled the scene.

On Monday during her sentencing hearing, Brown apologized to Washington’s family repeatedly.

“I’m not asking you to forgive me,” she said. “I’m asking you to try to understand what happened that day. I was just trying to run from a domestic.”

She said that Washington ran in front of her vehicle.

“It was an accident. I am truly sorry for the pain I’ve caused your family.”

Howsie said he believed Brown has real remorse, but he also questioned what happened.

“What could have happened in five weeks that was this serious that you responded this way?” he asked. “How did we even get here?’

Brown’s defense attorney, Turahn Jenkins, told Howsie that his client had sustained significant trauma in her life, including the shooting death of her brother, dropping out of school to care for her dying mother and sexual assault.

She also had been involved in a previous abusive relationship, Jenkins said.

He told the court that Brown’s actions that night were not premeditated.

“It was a tragedy.”

Several members of Washington’s family gave victim impact statements during the hearing.

His mother, Jacqueline Wilson, described her son as compassionate and kind.

“Von was my favorite person in the world — and the funniest, too,” she said.

According to his obituary, Washington worked in carpentry and construction and started his own business, We Fix It All Home Improvement.

He also worked with Rebuilding Pittsburgh Together to improve the Homewood community, where he lived, the obituary said.

Wilson said her son was generous.

“I forgive you, because Von, most certainly, would have,” she said.

Washington had four children, who were 11, 8, 7 and 2 when he died.

Demi Kolke, the mother of his daughter, Journey, now 4, told the court that she asks her difficult questions.

“Sometimes it’s a day or two. Sometimes it’s a week or two,” Kolke said. “‘Mommy, why did my daddy have to die?’ ‘Mommy, did the girl who killed my daddy say she’s sorry?’”

Kolke described Washington as a tortured soul and said he loved with abandon. He also taught their daughter to be “unapologetically herself.”

“My greatest fear is Journey forgetting,” Kolke said. “She still has vivid memories.

“I’m still scared of the day she forgets.”

In handing down his sentence, Howsie told Brown that her actions are “repeating the cycle” that caused her difficulty in her own life — leaving her children childless, and taking a father away from Washington’s children.

“In a perfect world, you should be facing first [degree murder,]” the judge said. “Look at all the families and all the lives you impacted because of your choice.

“I don’t know how you fix it, but I hope you spend the rest of your life trying to do so.”