15 years for double fatal DUI
A Cook County judge said he took into account the good a Gilberts man had done in his life but also his two prior DUI convictions when sentencing him to 15 years in prison for killing a Wood Dale couple while driving drunk.
Harold G. Ulmer Jr., 61, faced six to 28 years in prison after a jury convicted him earlier this month of reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol in the deaths of 51-year-old Edward Aiello and his 48-year-old wife, Brenda.
"He definitely does not deserve anywhere near the minimum," Judge Circuit Thomas Fecarotta said Thursday. "But I cannot overlook the good he's done in life."
Before sentencing, family members of the victims took the stand to ask Fecarotta to hand down the maximum penalty the law allows.
They emphasized how the deaths of Edward and Brenda Aiello had created a tragic ripple effect through the family.
Edward's mother suffered a fatal heart attack the same day she buried her only son. Family members said she had been perfectly healthy and died of a broken heart.
"Depression has become a big part of our lives," said Edward's stepmother, Revelle Aiello.
Family members characterized Edward Aiello as a doting father and fun-loving brother and son who enjoyed travel, did the job of two people and could fix just about anything.
A state's attorney then read a statement from Brenda's mother telling the story of how Brenda's father lost his life years earlier trying to save then 7-year-old Brenda from drowning in a lake.
"Losing a husband and a daughter is something I can never get over," Nyla Burdette wrote. "Not being able to save her is the most helpless feeling a parent could ever have."
Ulmer, who had two prior convictions for DUI in Iowa and Utah, had chugged nearly a bottle of vodka before he plowed his truck into the couple's motorcycle around 9 a.m. July 15 at the intersection of Route 62 and Route 59.
The victims' family said Ulmer had not demonstrated any remorse during trial, when defense attorneys claimed the alcohol he had drank earlier hadn't yet entered his blood stream.
But as a tearful Ulmer addressed the court Thursday he said he has had many sleepless nights reliving the accident and has wished he could reach out to the Aiello family.
"This will be the first time in 41 years of marriage that my wife won't have my direct support," Ulmer said, pleading for leniency.
Fecarotta cited Ulmer's charity work on behalf of victims of spina bifida and letters of support from his wife and two daughters to explain why he did not give Ulmer the full 28 years, which likely would have amounted to a life sentence.
Edward's sister, Gina, said after the sentencing that Fecarotta should not have taken Ulmer's age into account.
"I think he got off easy," she said. "I don't care that he's 61 years old. My brother was 51."