Judge hears case for lower bond in crash that killed 4

Kane County prosecutors say Fakir Muhammad Jaffrie got high on marijuana six hours before crashing his car into a tree Sept. 8, killing four friends riding with him.

And because the 24-year-old Crystal Lake man faces up to 28 years in prison and has relatives in Pakistan, his bond should be at $250,000, First Assistant State's Attorney Clint Hull argued Thursday.

"That would give the defendant a motive to flee the United States," Hull said. "There are four dead bodies. There are four people who lost their lives."

Kane County Judge Patricia Golden, who received Jaffrie's case Thursday, will decide Monday if Jaffrie's bond should be reduced.

Defense attorney David Camic suggested Golden lower the bond to $40,000, which he said is the maximum Jaffrie's family and relatives can pull together.

Before his arrest, Jaffrie worked at his father's vitamin and supplement store. He was arrested in 2004 in Texas on possession of a controlled substance charges, but those were dropped. He also was convicted on federal charges of illegally copying or distributing DVDs in Texas and fined $1,600.

Camic said Jaffrie surrendered his passport after he was charged and will stay in Algonquin with an electronic monitoring device if released.

Camic also noted that defendants charged with first-degree murder have had their bond set at $100,000.

Around 3:30 a.m. Sept. 8, a 2003 Infiniti G35 carrying the five men was heading west on Dietrich Road, between Brier Hill Road and Route 20 west of Huntley, when it hit a tree. Hull said Jaffrie was going at least 60 mph in a 40 mph zone and the car caught air on a hill.

Ayush Joshi, a 20-year-old from Hoffman Estates and 2005 graduate of Conant High School, and Zohair Husain, an 18-year-old from Huntley who graduated from Huntley High School earlier this year, died at the scene. Kumail Husain, 20, of Algonquin and Henry Onwualu, 19, of Huntley died later from their injuries.

Onwualu's aunt, Nkoli Anikamadu, got a little choked up when she first saw Jaffrie -- who was clad in a white cloth body brace over his orange jail jumpsuit and needed a walker to stand before the judge.

"We're still dealing with the loss," Anikamadu said. "The loss is too much."

Hull said tests of Jaffrie's blood at the state lab and an Indianapolis lab showed the presence of marijuana and that he used it about six hours before the crash.

Camic said the test showed just the presence of cannabis metabolites. He argued the results were the equivalent of testing someone for alcohol and seeing if they had hops and yeast in their blood.

"We're going to aggressively defend this case, particularly given the lack of any active cannabis in (Jaffrie's) system," Camic said.