High court to hear teen alcohol case

The Illinois Supreme Court announced this week it would hear the case of a McHenry teen charged with giving beer to a high school classmate who died the same day while driving home drunk.

The court will decide whether the state law used to charge Jenna Christopherson, 19, applies to anyone who provided liquor to a minor or only adults who buy or give it to someone underage.

A McHenry County judge sided with the latter in 2006 when he dismissed the misdemeanor charge of unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor against Christopherson. But a state appeals court overturned that decision and reinstated the charge in December.

The allegation stems from a St. Patrick's Day party Christopherson threw in 2005. One of her guests, Jamie Lyn Smith, 17, of Hebron, was driving home drunk later that day when she lost control of her car on Route 47 north of Woodstock and struck a utility pole.

She died from her injuries eight months later.