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Jury finds Webb guilty in fatal hit-and-run

Posted at 12:29 PM, Feb 13, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-14 00:07:23-05

7:40 p.m. update.
At 7:15 p.m. the judge dismissed the jury until 9:30 a.m. Thursday, after the jury asked for advice on what they should do if they couldn't decide on a punishment. The jury deliberated about an hour and 35 minutes.

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) -  A 31-year-old man has been found guilty of leaving the scene of a deadly hit-and-run accident last summer on River Road in Richmond.

A jury found Elias Webb guilty Wednesday afternoon on a felony charge of hit-and-run causing death or injury.

Police said Webb hit 24-year-old Lanie Kruszewski as she rode her bicycle at night. Webb came forward days after the accident and told police he thought he had hit a deer.

"All I see are years ahead of us without her," one of Kruszewski's sisters testified. "We're all worse without Lane."

Kruszewski's two sisters poured their hearts out to the jury about losing their loved one.

After the guilty verdict was read, prosecutors called witnesses to the stand and provided more evidence to the jury as to the punishment for Webb's crime.

His guilty verdict caused tears on both sides of the court room.

A jury believed prosecutors when they said Webb knew or should have known he hit a person last July on River Road.

His defense was he thought he hit a deer and when he heard a thud looked in his rear view mirror he saw nothing.

Prosecutors told the jury Kruszewski was right in his line of sight when she slammed into Webb's windshield.

They close by telling the jury web acted out of desperation and fear and made a series of bad decisions.

Decisions like not stopping and choosing not to report it to police despite living three blocks from a police station.

One alternate juror who was released from the case before deliberations told CBS 6 News that the three days have been very emotional.

"It gets emotional because you know it has an effect on everyone's life," Shirl White said.

Webb faces one to ten years in prison.