McHenry woman tied to fatal DUI must share her story

A McHenry woman who as a teenager threw a drinking party that led to a friend's tragic death in a drunken driving crash agreed Friday to speak to groups of convicted drunk drivers as part of her penance.

Jenna Christopherson, 22, admitted guilt to a misdemeanor charge of unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor under a plea bargain in which she also was ordered to serve one year of nonreporting probation and pay a $200 fine.

The proposed deal initially required Christopherson to perform 100 hours community service. But McHenry County Judge Charles Weech instead crafted the sentence to require her to speak publicly about her experiences.

"If you reach out and tell your story, you can prevent other young people from doing this," Weech told Christopherson. "I want to make sure we do what's right for everybody here. There is no other positive spin I can think of from this."

The talks will come at what are called victim-impact panels, court ordered sessions at which people convicted of drunk-driving related offenses listen to the stories of those who either lost loved ones to drunk drivers or harmed others while driving under the influence.

Christopherson was a 17-year-old high school student when, on St. Patrick's Day 2005, she had a friend of an older sibling buy beer for her and her friends. One of those friends, 17-year-old Jamie Lyn Smith, crashed her car later that night while driving intoxicated, suffering injuries that would prove fatal eight months later.

The man who bought the beer, Edward Jungmann of McHenry, last year was found guilty of unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor and sentenced to three months in jail.

County prosecutors and Weech made clear Friday that Christopherson's stellar record since her friend's death allowed her to avoid a similar sentence.

"She hasn't been in trouble at all since the charges," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Jeffrey Bora said, adding that Smith's family endorsed the plea deal. "She was a friend of the victim. She lost like everyone else here."

"Everyone lost a sense of innocence here," Weech added. "Everyone was forced into adulthood."