Chicago DUI Lawyer Blog

A Libertyville women, Cheryl Yachnin, has filed a class-action lawsuit challenging Lake County’s “no-refusal weekend” program. The program allows police to obtain search warrants for suspected drunken drivers who refuse to take a breath test. Prosecutors and judges are on call to issue search warrants requesting the tests be done under penalty of contempt of…

Sandra Vasquez, 26, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after the fatal drunk-driving crash in 2007 that left five Oswego teens dead and three others injured. The prison term means Vasquez, the mother of two young children, will have to spend at least 12 1/2 years behind bars. Initially, Vazquez faced up to 28…

Oswaldo Gonzalez, 36, was charged in May with Reckless Homicide and several different DUI charges after allegedly rear-ending a silver Kia Rio in the 3500 block of West 30th Street. Alicia Pedroza, 58, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. Two other people and an infant were also injured. Gonzalez was allegedly driving at high speeds…

William Larimer, 57, a commuter van driver was arrested while driving eight people home from work on Friday afternoon. Larimer was driving on I-95 in Stafford when his van was pulled over for weaving in and out of traffic. According to his employer, the passengers on the van knew Larimer had just left an office…

Jonathan Bahena, a 4-year-old child, was killed on Sunday after his mother Laticia Medel crashed into two cars. Leticia Medel, 24, has been charged with felony aggravated DUI resulting in an accident and bodily harm, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving 15 to 20 mph over the speed limit, failure to reduce speed, driving…

Diamonds Gentlemen’s Club of West Chicago settled for $1 million in a lawsuit that had been filed after a 2006 DUI crash the resulted in the death of a pregnant woman, her unborn child, and a patron of the club. The suit alleged that John Hamatas and John Chiariello had drank at the club until…

A Chicago man was indicted on July 13 in connection with a Wilmette crash that resulted in the death of two Chicago teenagers. According to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, 20-year-old Szymon Zawadzki, pleaded not guilt on Monday on charges of aggravated DUI and reckless homicide. He is allegedly responsible for the crash in…

Thomas G. Ofenloch Jr., 26, of Aurora, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a DUI crash that killed two of his friends in 2007. The sentence stems from an Aug. 4, 2007 crash and claimed the lives of two former high school classmates of Ofenloch, Joshua Sutton and Andrew Berger. Ofenloch’s classmates were…

The driver in a fatal McHenry County DUI-related crash was arrested this month while breaking in cars in Crystal Lake, according to police. Urichait Herrera-Garcia, 23, was believed to have fled the county after the tragic October crash. He was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of aggravated DUI more than seven months…

Edward Cook, 25, of Aurora, was sentenced on Friday by a Kane County judge to 15 years in prison for the DUI-related crash that killed David Long, 57. Cook was convicted in the death of Long and his dog, who were out for an early morning walk in their Batavia neighborhood approximately one year ago.…