HONESDALE -- It was an emotional day in Wayne County Court when an underaged driver admitted she crashed and killed three other teens all while their family and friends came seeking justice.
Julia Ware from the suburbs of New York City is now 16 years old. She sobbed throughout the hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Ware admitted she was driving without a license last summer when the SUV rolled killing those three boys from the Philadelphia area.
Wearing identical shirts and carrying signs and photos of the three high school boys whose lives were cut short, friends and family walked into the Wayne County Courthouse in Honesdale.
They were there to push prosecutors to seek jail time for the underaged driver behind the wheel when the teens from Bucks County were killed near Lake Wallenpaupack back in August.
"She knew she was wrong. She knew she shouldn't have been driving. She knew she was going fast. The boys were telling her to slow down. She didn't slow down. She thought it was funny to go faster. She murdered three boys, one of them my son Ryan," said Ed Lesher.
Ryan Lesher, Shamus Digney, and Cullen Keffer were 15 years old, about to start their sophomore year at Council Rock High School.
That's when troopers said Julia Ware, who was 15 at the time, had her father's permission to take the SUV, picked up the boys, and flipped the vehicle on Goose Pond Road near Hamlin. Ware and two other teens survived. The boys did not.
"I feel as though she should go to jail. Everyone here is suffering. Why should she go to a senior prom? Junior prom? Why should she enjoy herself when all these families are suffering like this," said family friend Mike Leonporra.
Ware cried uncontrollably in juvenile court as she admitted her role in the crash and all three deaths, then rushed out a side door of the courthouse and into a car.
"It's such a tragic event for everybody involved, including my poor client," said Ware's attorney John Stieh. "They've done nothing but express the deepest of sorrows that this thing happened. You saw the turmoil that girl had today, you saw the upset."
As for Lesher's father, he said he spent his son's birthday at the cemetery two weeks ago and vows to push for a harsh penalty for Ware.
"Every single step of the way I will be here."
Julia Ware is expected back in court within a month for the juvenile equivalent of sentencing.
Her father, Michael Ware, is still charged in this case as well and faces involuntary manslaughter for allegedly letting his daughter have the keys that day last August.