A man who was convicted of reckless homicide in 2004 appeared before the same judge this week, pleading guilty again to drunk driving.
Gerard J. Jayne had been driving the family van on May 26, 2004, when the vehicle ran off the road in Joliet at Theodore Street near Drauden Road. Jayne’s wife, Sherri, who was in the van with him, was thrown out of the vehicle when it hit a ditch and rolled over into a field. Police charged Jayne with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI).
Two days later, at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Sherri Jayne died of injuries she had received in the car accident.
When Jayne appeared in court in August 2004, he was charged with reckless homicide. He pleaded guilty, and Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt subsequently sentenced him to four years of probation. Additionally, Judge Schoenstedt told Jayne to continue working, go to counseling, attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week, and “reach out to young drivers” as he served his probation.
That was in 2004. According to court records, Jayne completed his probation successfully in 2008.
This week Jayne, now 50 years old, stood before Judge Schoenstedt in court once again, pleading guilty to drunk driving in Illinois once again. According to prosecutors, police had found Jayne driving while intoxicated on May 26, 2011, in the 24000 block of West Fraser Road in Plainfield, Illinois.
Judge Schoenstedt set a sentencing date of May 24 for Jayne’s current drunk driving conviction.