Man pleads guilty in Huntley area crash that killed 4

A Crystal Lake man faces up to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to reckless homicide in connection with a one-car crash that killed four of his friends.

Muhammad Jaffrie, 27, of the 500 block of Silver Aspen Circle, pleaded guilty to four counts of reckless homicide in Kane County court Thursday. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed a more serious charge, aggravated driving under the influence, which alleged he was impaired by marijuana.

Jaffrie and four friends were on their way to a truck stop for food about 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 8, 2007, when the Infiniti Jaffrie was driving sped off an incline on Dietrich Road near Huntley, prosecutors said. The vehicle went airborne for 78 feet before it landed and then struck a tree stump and tree.

Killed were brothers Zohair Husain, 18, and Kumail Husain, 20, of Algonquin; Ayush Joshi, 20, of Hoffman Estates; and Henry Orwualu, 19, of Huntley.

“Muhammad is still racked with a sense of loss and guilt over his friends,” defense attorney David Camic said. “These were people he cared about.”

Had the case gone to trial, Camic said, experts for the prosecution and defense would have given conflicting testimony about whether drugs played a role.

“We had competing experts,” he said. “I believe what the state did was look at all the evidence, compare our expert and their expert and probably determined that after a hearing or trial, (a reckless homicide conviction) is where we would be.”

Jaffrie, who was seriously injured in the crash, remains free on bond. Judge T. Jordan Gallagher set sentencing for Jan. 14, when Jaffrie will face either a term of probation or three to seven years in prison.

Camic said he will seek probation, noting his client has been on electronic home monitoring for three years without violation.