A Mundelein woman was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison Tuesday for the death of a 22-year-old man in an early morning drunken driving crash in Libertyville.
Amanda Auld, 24, was sentenced after having pleaded guilty late last year as part of a plea deal to one count of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in a death.
Killed in the crash was Steven Daskaukas, a passenger in Auld’s car when she struck the back of a truck at the intersection of Peterson and Harris roads in Libertyville at 2:43 a.m. on March 7, 2015.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Patricia Fix said she was particularly struck by reports that Auld’s friends, following in another car, had been calling Auld and Daskaukas on mobile phones in an attempt to stop the woman from continuing to drive.
Fix noted that Auld was speeding, leaving the second car unable to catch up with her.
Auld admitted in a statement to the court that she and her friends had been drinking heavily at two bars and had left a bar in Fox Lake when the crash occurred.
Prior to being sentenced, Auld apologized to the family of Daskaukas, saying that she knew no words would make up for the loss, but that he had been her best friend and that "living through that accident is my very own life sentence."
"You will never know what it’s like to watch your best friend die and walk away unharmed," she said.
Auld said she takes "full responsibility for the part I played" in the crash, but also asked for a probationary sentence that would allow her to go into a formal treatment program to battle long-term alcohol, substance abuse and mental health issues.
But Assistant State’s Attorney Dan Brown noted that Auld had been given supervisory sentences in the past that were to involve treatment programs and that she failed to complete them.
Fix also noted that point in handing down the sentence, saying that although Auld had begun treatment programs and courses while in jail, it was hard not to believe her plea for treatment was an attempt to avoid prison.
Auld’s sentencing followed her guilty plea to the charge in a negotiated deal in which other charges were dismissed, including Casinomaxi reckless homicide, and a cap of eight years was put on the sentence she would receive. Without the cap, she would have faced a possible sentencing range of three to 14 years in prison, or probation if the judge found that the case included extraordinary circumstances.
Defense attorney John Radosevich argued strongly that extraordinary circumstances did exist in the case because Auld, facing mental health and serious addiction issues through much of her life, had reached a point over the past year in which she discovered her road to recovery and genuinely wanted to pursue it.
"You have right now a moment in which an addict is in full acceptance of her addiction," he said. "She’s not going to get treatment if you send her to prison."
In her statement to the court, Auld said she and her friends had been drinking and partying not only that night but "every night," and that drinking and driving did not seem unusual for her.
"We were all very intoxicated," she said. "At the time, I would consider myself one of the best drunk drivers."
She said she was driving a friend’s Volkswagen Beetle from a bar in Fox Lake to a hotel when the crash occurred.
Auld said she and "Stevie" "had the music all the way up" and "considered ourselves unstoppable."
She said in retrospect she believes her drinking and drug use was always to cover up pain rather than for pleasure.
Auld’s grandfather testified at the sentencing hearing that she had a child at canlı bahis siteleri 13 and dropped out of Mundelein High School in part due to teasing. She received a GED degree at College of Lake County, but had substance abuse and mental health problems stemming from family issues. He added that the issues included never having known who her father was and a mother with depression and other matters that left her unable to give Auld the care she needed.
But in a victim-impact statement at the hearing, Merissa Daskaukas said her brother, Steven, was dead because of a conscious choice made by Auld.
"What can I say? My brother’s life, at 22, was taken from him by the action of someone else," she said, crying. "I understand it was an accident, but it was an accident that resulted from choice."
Merissa said her brother was loving and kind and "simply the most beautiful soul."
Officials said Auld will serve the term at 85 percent and receive credit for 347 days spent in Lake County Jail. Radosevich said based on those factors, he expects that under the sentence Auld received Tuesday afternoon, she will spend roughly five-and-a-half years in prison.
Auld was not charged until almost a year after the crash, and was held in Lake County Jail on $500,000 bail since that time.
jrnewton@tribpub.com
Twitter @jimnewton5
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