http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/...oman_is_sentenced_for_bicyclists_deathWoman is sentenced for bicyclist's death
By Mary Schenk
Thursday, November 30, 2006 11:38 AM CST
URBANA ? Jennifer Stark wiped away tears and nodded that she understood the maximum sentence a Champaign County judge gave her Wednesday for improper lane usage.
The 19-year-old Urbana woman appeared in court, flanked by her parents, to plead guilty to a petty offense and be sentenced for actions that led to the death of Matthew Wilhelm.
The 25-year-old former Champaign resident, a University of Illinois mechanical engineering graduate working for Caterpillar in Peoria, died on Sept. 8 from head injuries he received Sept. 2 when Stark hit him with her car because she was downloading ring tones to her cell phone instead of paying attention to driving.
Mr. Wilhelm was bicycling north on Illinois 130 east of Urbana when he was struck from behind about 7:15 p.m. Stark was so far off the road that she hit Mr. Wilhelm from behind with the driver's side of her car. He was wearing a helmet.
"I can only apply the law I have in front of me, not as I wish it would be," Judge Richard Klaus told Stark and the approximately dozen others who had gathered to see her sentence. They included the parents of Mr. Wilhelm and other friends and relatives of the Wilhelm family who have mobilized forces to try to get the law changed regarding distracted drivers.
"I am appalled by your conduct and the manner in which you have driven in the short time you've had a license," Klaus told Stark, who had three prior convictions since May 2005 one for disregarding a traffic light and two for speeding. The last speeding conviction came about five weeks before she hit Mr. Wilhelm.
Originally posted by: Devine
I think her sentence should be something along the lines of give her a bike, the victims family a car, and let them go outside and "fix it" themselves.
Originally posted by: EvilYoda
That's just ridiculous...so I'm guessing that by the wording of the statement, the biker was on the opposite side of the road? We don't have bikers around here, but I thought they were supposed to bike against traffic.
Regardless, either her parents think their little princess did nothing wrong or they should take her car away for...ever.
MechSE Alum Dies in AccidentMatthew Wilhelm, who completed his MSME degree in May, died on September 7 after being hit by an automobile while riding his bike on September 2.
Matt earned a BSME from our department in 2004, with minors in Mathematics and in Technology and Management. He programmed for the departmental web site, and did research in the Center for Machine Tool Systems. He continued here in graduate school, working in the Polymer Processing Lab and completing his MSME degree in May 2006.
Matt was an outstanding student. His many academic honors included membership in both Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma, as well as the Senior 100 Honorary and Bronze Tablet. He was a Chancellor's Scholar, a James Scholar, and on the Dean's List. He received the ASME Outstanding Junior Award, the department's H.H. Korst Award for scholarship in thermal sciences, and the Clarence L. and Harriette Johnson Award as one of the department's best undergraduate students. As a graduate student he held an FMC Fellowship.
Matt was extremely active in student societies. For ASME he served as Webmaster, Social Chair, and Engineering Open House Chair, organizing exhibits that won third place in EOH two years in a row. He was also involved in SAE, Engineering Council, SME, and the Society of Business and Management Engineers. Matt was deeply committed to Campus Crusade for Christ, and spent many of his vacations doing service activities with that group. He held internships with Caterpillar and with General Electric Aircraft Engines, and had recently accepted a permanent job at Caterpillar.
Matt was known for his ready smile and his upbeat approach to life. He was passionate about helping anyone who needed it, and he tutored everyone from high school students to classmates. His friends will remember his scruffy baseball cap, his insistence on wearing short pants no matter how cold the weather, and his enthusiasm for whatever was coming next.
State's Attorney Julia Rietz made the call not to lodge any more serious charge than improper lane usage against Stark, saying that the legal definition of recklessness, to sustain reckless homicide or reckless driving, did not fit her actions.
But Rietz argued for the maximum sentence of six months of conditional discharge a form of probation without reporting to an officer a $1,000 fine and traffic safety school.
...
Julia Rietz said it would be hard to prosecute 'willful and wanton' (behavior) and the driver could have 'no reasonable expectation of a bike on the side of the road,' yet every single time we visited the accident site we saw bikers and joggers in the area. The driver took this path to and from work and had to see others out there. Disregarding the obvious is a total lack of responsibility.
Originally posted by: EvilYoda
That's just ridiculous...so I'm guessing that by the wording of the statement, the biker was on the opposite side of the road? We don't have bikers around here, but I thought they were supposed to bike against traffic.
Regardless, either her parents think their little princess did nothing wrong or they should take her car away for...ever.
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Originally posted by: EvilYoda
That's just ridiculous...so I'm guessing that by the wording of the statement, the biker was on the opposite side of the road? We don't have bikers around here, but I thought they were supposed to bike against traffic.
Regardless, either her parents think their little princess did nothing wrong or they should take her car away for...ever.
Bike with traffic, walk against traffic. Safer that way.
Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
If she was a 16 year old black guy, she'd have been tried as an adult and sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter.
Originally posted by: jds2006
She only got charged with an improper lane change charge? No manslaughter charge? That's messed up.
Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
so you guys get completely retarded prosecutions too. makes me ****** sick.
the prosecution/court/judges/law process blair has crafted in this country takes the most almighty turd on common sense. politicians and laws they make and pass really seem completely detached from the real world. they skip around in this fariy tail land where it appears to them that they have important and meaningful jobs passing completely sane laws.
in reality they have been chuffin through the biggest supply of leaf in the world,have questionable job titles, and even more questionable pay for a job that anyone with abit of common sense could do. its not the judges fault, he can only work with the tools he has, the tools the overpaid (gimp)suits give him. i hate politicians.... i wanna see them all gag to death on the worlds biggest horse cock