New Kane Co. DUI law hits hard

Next year, Kane County will see its first use of a change in state law that allows repeat drunken drivers to be eligible for the same punishment as killers, rapists and robbers.

Richard Haley and James Clark don't know each other, but in court records they share the same stigma: each has been arrested more than six times for drunken driving.

Haley, 37, of Westmont, is pending trial for his seventh and eighth arrests in 2006 in Aurora and Sugar Grove. His record dates to 1994, with six convictions, at least three coming in the Northwest suburbs, court records show.

Clark, of Aurora, is awaiting a trial for his seventh arrest early last year in Aurora. The 59-year-old has had six convictions since 1980, records show.

And because of a year-old change in Illinois' traffic laws, the charges against both men are now Class X felonies, which carry a sentencing of six to 30 years, if they are convicted at trial.

Before state lawmakers stiffened the penalties, which took effect Jan. 1, 2006, Haley and Clark would have been charged with misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in the county's jail and fines.

That's what each received for their prior offenses, which date back to the 1980s and early 1990s, their court records show. Now, prosecutors say they've run out of ways to keep Haley and Clark off the road.

"Everything to date hasn't worked," said Steven Sims, an assistant Kane County state's attorney. "This is the one true safeguard that's going to keep them off the road."

The change in the state vehicle code made a conviction for a sixth offense of driving while intoxicated eligible for a sentence typically handed out for murder, rape and robbery.

Although the cases against Haley and Clark, whose attorneys could not be reached for comment, are the first of their kinds in Kane County, other counties have wielded the law, but with differences.

Since the change took effect, 90 people in Illinois have been convicted of a sixth offense for intoxicated driving, according to the secretary of state's office, which was a proponent of the law.

"We've gotten to the point where we can no longer tolerate this kind of conduct," Secretary of State Jesse White said.

As of Dec. 1, 37 people have been sent to state prison for six or more DUIs, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The first case, in March 2006, resulted in a six-year sentence in DuPage County.

DuPage has since sent five more people to prison under the law.

Cook County used the law to send nine repeat offenders to prison, Winnebago County sent eight and Will County five, state records show. McHenry County has not used the law yet.

The longest sentence under the change was a 15-year prison stint in April in a downstate Jefferson County case, records show.

State Rep. Bill Black was the chief sponsor of the legislation. He said he was outraged drunken drivers were still on the roads, and he wanted them to pay a heavy price.

"We would have made it even tougher if bodily harm had taken place … but you end up with what you can pass," the Danville Republican said.

Haley is due in court again Jan. 16, and he could stand trial in the spring. Clark is set to stand trial Jan. 9, Sims said.