Judge sends Hoffman Estates man to jail

A Cook County judge on Tuesday revoked the bond of a 21-year-old drunken driver whose friend died last year in a car crash on the Jane Addams Tollway.

After the accident, doctors at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights measured Jay Yi's blood-alcohol concentration at .191 percent, prosecutor Mike Gerber said Tuesday. That's more than twice the legal threshold under state law.

Yi, of Hoffman Estates, had been free after posting 10 percent of $200,000 bail, but he'll spend more than a month in jail after Judge Thomas Fecarotta cited Yi's six failures to comply with the stipulations of his bond release.

Fecarotta said the violations show Yi wasn't sincere with the apology he delivered Tuesday to the family of Christopher Vega, the 20-year-old Conant High School grad who died in the Nov. 6 single-car crash off the toll road's westbound Arlington Heights Road exit.

Yi managed few words, repeatedly answering in a low voice “yes, Judge” to Fecarotta's questions. He eventually made a brief statement and told Vega's family, “I'm very sorry.”

Yi changed his plea to guilty on Tuesday, after his attorneys agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors. Normally, Yi would have remained free until sentencing.

But Fecarotta cited Yi's four failures to meet face to face with pretrial service officers during the early-morning hours and ordered deputies to take him into immediate custody. Yi also failed two tests for marijuana, Fecarotta said. The violations spanned the period from March 16 to last Friday.

“You don't care about the Vega family,” Fecarotta told Yi with a raised voice. “Look what you've done to them.”

Fecarotta added: “You can't with one breath say you're sorry and in the next breath do all this.”

Yi faced a maximum 28 years in prison for charges of aggravated DUI that led to a death and reckless homicide. His attorneys and prosecutors agreed on a deal for a four-year prison stint followed by two years of supervision upon release. Yi would also submit a DNA sample and pay $25,000 in fines. He has no criminal history or prior traffic violations, Gerber said.

After hearing about the bail violations, Fecarotta ordered a pre-sentence investigation for more background on Yi and continued the case until a July 25 sentencing. Fecarotta could reject the deal if he thought the agreed-upon penalty wasn't severe enough.

“I'm going to think about this one,” Fecarotta said, adding he would have jailed Yi earlier if pretrial services reported the violations in a more timely fashion.

“Sorry?” Fecarotta said. “Give me a break.”

Vega's and Yi's families attended Tuesday's hearing. Family members from both sides wiped tears as Gerber described the accident scene, where emergency crews found Yi's 1999 Toyota Camry rolled over after hitting a ditch. While the impact ejected Yi from the car, paramedics found Vega inside, lying motionless. Doctors pronounced him dead at the hospital.

Vega played football for Conant in Hoffman Estates and had wanted to play for Harper College in Palatine, friends said.