Nina wrote:Tribune article

Can someone copy and paste text?

chicagotribune.com
Suicidal driver gets 8 years for crash that killed 3 musicians

By Susan Kuczka

Tribune staff reporter

3:54 PM CST, November 26, 2007


Jeanette Sliwinski, the former model convicted last month in the deaths of three Chicago musicians who were killed when she rear-ended a car in which they were riding during a failed suicide attempt, was sentenced today to 8 years in prison.

Cook County Circuit Judge Garritt Howard, who found Sliwinski guilty but mentally ill on reckless homicide charges Oct. 26, imposed the sentence during an emotional hearing in the Skokie courtroom where he presided over her bench trial.

Prosecutors had asked that Sliwinski of Morton Grove receive the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Sliwinski, 25, who has been held in the psychiatric ward of Cook County Jail since the July 2005 lunchtime crash at Dempster Street and Niles Center Road in Skokie, apologized to the relatives and friends of the victims who were in the courtroom, before being sentenced. She could be released from prison in a few years if she receives good-time credit.

"There's not a day that goes by I do not think about the grief and the pain I have caused," Sliwinski, weeping, told the judge while looking toward the victims' families. "I never meant to hurt anybody. I'm sorry."

Mental-health services would be available to Sliwinski in whatever prison she is assigned to, prosecutors said.

Sliwinski's relatives were on hand for the sentencing as were relatives and friends of the men killed in the crash—Chicagoans Michael Dahlquist, 39, John Glick, 35, and Douglas Meis, 29. At the time of the accident, the men were on their lunch break from work at Shure Inc., a Niles company that makes microphones and other audio electronic products.

Sliwinski pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the crash after being charged with first-degree murder. She told authorities she had gotten in a fight with her mother in the family's Morton Grove home before she got in her car, drove east on Dempster and slammed into Dahlquist's car at a stop light.

In his ruling, the judge rejected the first-degree murder charges and said he believed that Sliwinski was trying to kill herself.

skuczka@tribune.com

Sun-Times article

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/6677 ... 07.article

Nina wrote:
In his ruling, the judge rejected the first-degree murder charges and said he believed that Sliwinski was trying to kill herself.

what. the. fuck.

i am deeply saddened and my condolences to you guys.

Dear friends of Michael, Doug and John,

...I wanted to write something, but it isn't coming, so please instead accept my most deeply sincere thoughts travelling across the ocean from Liverpool to you.

That's all I have.

run joe run wrote:Dear friends of Michael, Doug and John,

...I wanted to write something, but it isn't coming, so please instead accept my most deeply sincere thoughts travelling across the ocean from Liverpool to you.

That's all I have.

I think he's summed it up for me too (with Berlin substituted for Liverpool). I wish for you strength, rest and recovery.

Do take care.

sparky wrote:

run joe run wrote:Dear friends of Michael, Doug and John,

...I wanted to write something, but it isn't coming, so please instead accept my most deeply sincere thoughts travelling across the ocean from Liverpool to you.

That's all I have.

I think he's summed it up for me too (with Berlin substituted for Liverpool). I wish for you strength, rest and recovery.

Do take care.

Same here.

What happens when this woman gets out of prison? According to the Tribune article from the day of the conviction (not the sentencing), she was at least faking being absolutely insane...claiming that Bush and Cheney were in on some conspiracy to screw her life up or send her to prison or whatever.

I hope she was faking being that mentally ill...I hope she was coherent and sincere today...if she's out of prison as soon as you guys are saying she will be, she could be a public hazard in addition to already being a miscarriage of justice.


It's all incredibly tragic...from every perspective (the justice system, the defendant, the friends and families, the victims). "Deepest sympathies" is not enough to express the empathy I feel for the friends and families of the victims. My sincere condolences to all of you involved in this tragedy.

Sly Bug wrote:

sparky wrote:

run joe run wrote:Dear friends of Michael, Doug and John,

...I wanted to write something, but it isn't coming, so please instead accept my most deeply sincere thoughts travelling across the ocean from Liverpool to you.

That's all I have.

I think he's summed it up for me too (with Berlin substituted for Liverpool). I wish for you strength, rest and recovery.

Do take care.

Same here.

And here. With a hearty "fuck the system" while we're at it.

Fuck. So, Becky (John's Wife) did testify in the sentencing hearing? Leah (my fiance) was worried she wouldn't be able to. She drove out of Portland less than 2 weeks ago.


FUCK.

This is fucked.

Better go start the old lady a bath, and pour a glass of wine. It's gonna be a long night.