Driver gets jail time, probation in 2018 crash that killed Elgin woman
A driver blamed for a 2018 crash that killed an Elgin woman was sentenced last week to 180 days in jail and four years of probation for actions a McHenry County judge called "selfish."
Brett J. Herold, 30, of Marengo pleaded guilty in October to driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to report a fatal crash in connection with the crash that killed 29-year-old Yajayra Huerta.
Herold initially was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence causing the death of another, causing an accident resulting in injury or death and obstructing justice, but those charges were dismissed, court records show.
In November 2020, additional charges were filed against Herold alleging that he was in possession of tramadol, oxycodone and codeine the night of the crash, records show. Those charges also were dismissed, according to court records.
In addition to the jail time and probation, Herold must pay $3,899 in fines and court fees. When released from jail in six months, he must participate in drug and alcohol counseling, wear a device that detects if he drinks alcohol, complete 300 hours of community service, and not consume any drugs or alcohol.
McHenry County prosecutors said Herold was driving home drunk from a bar at about 10:20 p.m. Sept. 22, 2018, when he struck a go-kart in which Huerta was riding in the 22200 block of River Road in Marengo.
Blood test results showed Herold had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.146, court records show. The legal limit is .08. He also tested positive for THC metabolites, the anesthetic ketamine and the pain reliever tramadol, according to charging documents.
In asking that Herold be sentenced to four years in prison, Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Ashur Youash pointed to the actions he took after the crash, including leaving the scene, telling his passenger to take off and then going to bed knowing he had just struck someone.
"It's alarming, to say the least," Youash said.
Youash said Herold initially told police someone else had been driving his car when Huerta was killed.
"He knew what he had to do to ... cover up what he had done," Youash said. "He (had) a blatant disregard for the life he had taken."
Youash read a letter the victim's mother wrote as the woman wept in the courtroom gallery. In asking that Herold serve the maximum prison sentence, she wrote that her "world has been changed forever." Since Sept. 22, 2018, the night her youngest child was killed, she has been "vulnerable, depressed, numb and scared."
"I will never be able to hug her on her birthday, never be able to hold her. ... She was the light of my life," the woman wrote.
"There is a hole in my heart that will never, ever be filled," she wrote. "Every night, I light a candle for her and I pray for her."