Ruling may lead to charges in fatal McHenry Co. DUI

The Illinois Supreme Court today cleared the way for authorities to reinstate charges against a McHenry woman accused of providing beer to a teenage friend who later suffered fatal injuries while driving home drunk.

In a unanimous decision that overturns a McHenry County judge's findings, the court ruled that nothing in state law bars prosecutors from charging a minor with illegally providing alcohol to another minor.

"We believe the legislature's intent in this section was to prohibit any person of any age from providing alcoholic liquor to a minor," Chief Justice Bob Thomas wrote in the eight-page ruling. "The tragic facts of this case indicate that the potential harm when alcohol reaches the hands of minors is no different when the alcohol is provided by another minor rather than an adult."

The ruling allows the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office to renew its prosecution of Jenna Christopherson, 21, on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor.

The charge stems from a party Christopherson held on St. Patrick's Day 2005 when she was 17 years old. Authorities say Christopherson had an older acquaintance purchase two 30 packs of beer that day, and then she made the beer available to party-goers.

One of those friends, Jamie Lyn Smith, 17, of Hebron, later lost control of her car while driving home intoxicated and slammed into a utility pole. She died of her injuries about eight months later.

Christopherson's defense challenged the charge, arguing that the state law applied only to adults giving alcohol to minors, not minors providing it for other minors. McHenry County Judge Charles Weech agreed and, in a first-of-its-kind ruling in Illinois, threw out the case against Christopherson.

However, a state appeals court contradicted Weech's decision in December, setting up today's Supreme Court ruling.

Christopherson attorney Mark Gummerson was not immediately available for comment today. If convicted of the charge, his client could face up to a year in jail and $2,500 in fines.

The man accused of buying Christopherson the beer, Edward Jungmann, 25, of McHenry, was convicted after a trial last year of unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor. He was sentenced to three months in the McHenry County jail and one year of probation.