Judge pondering charges in Algonquin man's heroin overdose

A McHenry County judge will rule Thursday whether a 34-year-old Algonquin man should spend up to 10 years in prison for giving a friend the heroin that later killed him.

James R. Jurkowski, of the 2100 block of Glacier Court, faces a charge of drug-induced homicide stemming from the Jan. 12, 2009 death of Mark A. Gouge, a fellow Algonquin resident found dead that night in the parking lot of a bar on the village's east side.

Judge Joseph Condon took the case under advisement Tuesday afternoon after a brief trial in which Jurkowski declined to testify in his own defense.

Instead, much of the two-hour trial focused on the testimony of Amy Belknap, a 30-year-old Woodstock woman who said she traveled to Chicago with Jurkowski and Gouge that night to buy and use heroin.

According to Belknap's account, Jurkowski arranged the deal then drove all three to a parking lot on the city's West Side. Once there, Belknap said, she gave Gouge money to by heroin. When he did, she said, he passed the drugs to Jurkowski who drove to another part of the city, handed out the heroin and all three used before traveling back to Algonquin.

Belknap testified that she blacked out on the drive home, but authorities allege Gouge, a 37-year-old father of two, overdosed during the ride and was dumped in the tavern parking lot by Jurkowski.

Jurkowski's defense attacked Belknap's credibility, noting that despite being given immunity throughout the proceedings, she admits lying to a grand jury last year and giving police several different statements about the events.

"She's an admitted heroin addict," Senior Assistant Public Defender Christopher Harmon said. "The witness is not credible."

Prosecutors, however, labeled Jurkowski a "facilitator" of the drug deal that cost Gouge his life.

"All the evidence is that Mark Gouge would not have procured the heroin without Jim Jurkowski," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Michael Combs said.

If found guilty, Jurkowski would face between 6 and 10 years in prison.