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Palatine woman sent to prison for fatal crash

A Palatine woman whose blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit when she caused a fatal, head-on crash was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.

Amber Honaker, 25, received the sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to aggravated DUI involving a death and great bodily harm. She must complete at least 85 percent of her sentence before she is eligible for parole.

Theresa Micelli, 85, was gravely injured in the crash, which occurred about 8 p.m. Dec. 4 near Mundhank and Higgins roads in South Barrington. She died several days later.

Joseph Micelli, Theresa's husband of 66 years, was seriously injured. Five months later, he walks with a limp and has internal injuries that cannot be repaired, according to his victim impact statement.

“My wife and I were going home after dinner with some friends when I turned the corner for the final lap and there was Ms. Honaker's speeding car coming at us in our lane,” he wrote.

“Whatever sentence you give her will not compensate us enough for our loss, but please try.”

Honaker, who was returning from an office holiday party where prosecutors say she drank several shots of liquor, was driving south in the northbound lane of Mundhank Road. She was so intoxicated, say prosecutors, she thought the two-lane road was a four-lane highway.

Honaker asked forgiveness from the Micelli family. In a letter to Joseph Micelli she wrote: “There is not enough time in this world to ever be able to express how truly sorry I am to be the cause of your heartache and sorrow. I hope within time you can forgive me when your heart is ready. Not until then will I be able to forgive myself ... for the pain I have caused you.”

Cook County Judge Marc Martin said he believes Honaker's remorse is genuine.

“I would like to think these circumstance are unlikely to recur but I don't have a crystal ball,” Martin said.

In their victim impact statements, several of Theresa Micelli's relatives asked for the maximum sentence of 14 years.

Grandson Patrick Boros, a former ICU nurse at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates where the couple were treated, had just completed his shift at the hospital that night and drove past the scene of the accident. He returned to the hospital after learning his grandparents were the victims.

“To see your beloved grandparents in the condition they were in was a nightmare I would not wish on my worst enemies,” Boros wrote in his victim impact statement.

Boros recalled wheeling his grandfather to his grandmother's side, where Joseph Micelli held his wife's hand and wept, saying “she doesn't even know me.”

This collision cost both families, wrote Boros, “but one family will be at a total loss, a loss which can never be recovered ... a loss with such devastating effect that it will remain for a lifetime.”

Palatine woman charged with aggravated DUI in fatal South Barrington crash

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