A young woman charged in the 2022 death of a Jacksonville State University student who was fatally struck in a crosswalk near campus will be tried as a youthful offender.

Olivia Lowery, 19, in June was charged with criminally negligent homicide in the Nov. 2, 2022, death of 22-year-old Leah Grace Tarvin. That charge is a Class A misdemeanor.

“Following proper application by the defendant, and careful consideration by the court, the defendant’s application for “Youthful Offender Status” was granted,’ Jacksonville Municipal Court Judge Jason C. Odom said it a statement to AL.com.

“Any and all further proceedings are therefore sealed, and will not be available for public dissemination.

According to the state’s Youthful Offender statute, if a person charged with a crime in an adult court in Alabama is under the age of 21 at the time of the alleged offense, that person has the right to make an application with the court requesting Youthful Offender status be granted.

Under the statute, a person deemed a youthful offender serves no more than three years if convicted, among other benefits.

Lowery is represented by attorneys Tommy Spina and Rod Giddens.

“First and foremost, my client, her family, and all parties involved on behalf of our client continue to keep the Tarvin family in our thoughts and prayers,’’ Spina said. “There are no words we can use to express to the Tarvin family that will ever fill the feeling of loss that we can only imagine they have gone through and continue to live with.”

“A life was lost, and for that, there is deep remorse and sadness and the Lowery’s wish to express their profound condolences to the Tarvin family,’’ he said, “although that does not and will never fill the void they must be experiencing.”

Spina said he is grateful for the judge’s ruling, and said it would be inappropriate to comment beyond that.

“Youthful Offender is a status, not an adjudication of guilt or innocence,’’ he said. “It simply seals the proceedings going forward, except to the parties involved , and if a person is found guilty as a youthful offender it is not technically a conviction. It’s a bit of legal fiction, oddly enough.”

Spina said Youthful Offender “status” had more of its intended purpose and effect when it was enacted in the 1970s, before the days of the internet.

“In the present day, there’s so much internet activity out in cyberspace before youthful offender status is considered that it’s intended purpose, to allow for youthful individuals to move forward without having a conviction on the record of the individual accused, has lost most of its luster,’’ he said. “It’s available for anyone accused of a crime committed before their 21st Birthday. The decision to grant youthful offender status is discretionary with the judge alone.”

A non-jury trial is set in Jacksonville Municipal Court on December 15th.

“Not every tragic auto accident that results in a fatality is a crime,’’ Spina said. “Some are simply just unfortunate accidents that may bring about liability but not criminal responsibility.”

Lowery’s arrest by Jacksonville police followed an intensive investigation, including the review of cell phone data, vehicle data, surveillance camera footage, multiple eyewitness interviews and consultation with experts in the field of GPS data, police said at the time of her arrest.

Tarvin was struck at 5:54 p.m. that Wednesday in a crosswalk on Highway 21 near Brewer Hall. She was treated on scene by Jacksonville Fire and EMS medics and then airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham.

She died two days later.

Authorities have not said what actions led to the criminal charges against Lowery, who also is facing a civil suit filed by Tarvin’s family.

Tarvin, 22, was from Cullman County. She graduated from Holly Pond High School and then attended Wallace State. She was studying forensic investigations at JSU.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Calhoun-Cleburne Major Crimes Unit, the Oxford Police Department and the Jacksonville State University Police Department assisted in the investigation.