Ticket dismissed to keep fatal crash case alive

The lone ticket coming out of an accident that led to the deaths of two motorcyclists last month has been excused in hopes of possibly attaching a stiffer penalty.

A Kane County judge dismissed the failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident ticket that Alia Bernard, 24, of Aurora received after her Toyota Solara slammed into the back of a car in front of her. The collision occurred at the intersection of Route 47 and Smith Road just south of Elburn on the morning of May 23.

The force of the impact from Bernard's car pushed the vehicle in front of her into the path of oncoming motorcycles. Wade Thomas, 44, and his wife, Denise Thomas, 45, both of St. Charles, were killed in the ensuing pileup.

The only charges Bernard has faced up to this point is the minor traffic citation. But Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti asked a judge to dismiss that charge while a toxicology lab works through a six-month backlog to review Bernard's test results. If the results show any alcohol or drugs may have impaired Bernard's driving the day of the crash, she may face reckless homicide or aggravated DUI charges instead of the moving violation.

Barsanti said he had the ticket dismissed so as not to run afoul of the double jeopardy law. If Bernard pleaded guilty to the ticket and was sentenced by a judge, it may have eliminated any chance for her to be charged with the more serious offenses when the test results come back. Double jeopardy prevents a person from being tried twice for the same crime.

"You don't want to go and have them pull the rug out from under you," Barsanti said of the his decision to wait for the toxicology results. "It could be that the behavior would make up the gist of a more serious offense."

Only the toxicology results can determine that. The six-month backlog is an unusually long time to wait for such test results, Barsanti said, but when asked if they could speed up the results because of the nature of this specific case, Barsanti said he was told to "get in line."

If the toxicology result shows no drugs or alcohol in Bernard's system, Barsanti can have the traffic ticket reinstated.