14-year sentence stands for drunken driver

SPRINGFIELD -- A Bloomingdale truck driver who killed a Schaumburg teen eight years ago while drunk and high on marijuana failed Thursday to shorten his prison time.

Richard Gancarz, who smashed his semitrailer truck into the passenger's side of a 17-year-old's Camaro, is serving the fourth year of his 14-year sentence for reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence. The Wood Dale crash killed high school student Aric Wooley in June 2000.

Gancarz argued his due process rights were violated because sentencing laws for his crimes changed during the three years he waited for a trial.

At the time of the crash, Gancarz's reckless homicide charge carried harsher provisions. An appeals court later threw out that part of his sentence, saying he should have been given the opportunity to choose either the earlier law or the new law with lesser penalties that was in effect when he was sentenced. The appeals court sent the case back to DuPage County, but prosecutors appealed to the state's high court.

In a 7-0 unanimous ruling, the justices reinstated the more severe, 14-year prison sentence originally imposed by the DuPage County circuit court. The state Supreme Court held Gancarz should face the penalties in place at the time he committed the crime.

DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett said he is pleased with the decision and thinks the Wooley family is, too.

"Fundamentally, there's issues where the defendant was trying to reduce his punishment by arguing various nuances," Birkett said. "This is an important victory of the safety of citizens on our highways."