Island Lake man released from prison early after appellate court ruling

As the mother of a 27-year-old man still struggles with the aftermath of a 2014 crash that changed her son’s life, the man convicted of causing the crash while drunken driving near McHenry was freed from prison years earlier than expected.

Michael Smith, 54, of Island Lake was released from Jacksonville Correctional Center on Monday after serving about 5 ½ years following an order entered Friday by McHenry County Judge Michael Coppedge.

The order entered and Smith’s release is in response to a disputed ruling by the Illinois Appellate Court of the Second District.

Coppedge resentenced Smith according to the ruling, vacating a former judge’s sentence of 12 years, which was handed down in 2018 after Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of driving while his license was revoked.

The trial judge initially sentenced Smith to two consecutive terms of six years for injuries caused to Jarett Wolff and Anthony Kowalski.

Had Smith been serving his time under that original 12 years at the mandated 85%, he would have been in prison for about another five years.

The appellate court ruled, however, that Smith should have been sentenced on each count concurrently, meaning six years total under the “one act, one crime” doctrine.

When this appellate ruling was first issued in 2019, the trial judge had retired and Coppedge resentenced Smith to nine years in prison.

This again was found to be an error and on Friday, Coppedge resentenced Smith to the six years concurrent, leading to his release from prison Monday.

Under the latest order, Smith actually served about a month longer than he should have, his lawyer Jed Stone said Thursday.

Smith’s release and the confusion around his sentencing only adds to the pain and suffering of the Wolff family, Kim Wolff, Jarrett’s mother, said Thursday.

Kim Wolff, who lives in Johnsburg where she raised her three sons, said the laws need to be changed and drunken drivers like Smith need to face stricter penalties.

Just after midnight on Nov. 2, 2014, Wolff was the front seat passenger in a vehicle driven by his friend Jose Martin, traveling north along River Road. Two passengers were in the back seat of the vehicle, Dan Tysland and Kowalski. Kowalski, sitting behind Wolff, also suffered serious injuries.

The four teens were traveling in a Dodge Neon back to Johnsburg from Algonquin where they had been hanging out at a bowling alley and playing laser tag, Kim Wolff said.

Smith, who prosecutors said during trial had drunk 10 beers and 10 shots of liquor at the Twisted Moose that day near McHenry, was traveling south in a Ford Ranger and his vehicle “was swerving in and out of its lane.”

“Martin tried to avoid [Smith’s] vehicle by driving around it to the left. [Smith’s] vehicle struck the right side of Martin’s,” according to court documents.

Wolff recalls being startled just after midnight by a phone call learning her 18-year-old son was involved in a serious crash then waiting at Advocate Condell Medical Center to hear if he was going to survive.

She said her son’s heart stopped twice during the flight to Condell from the former Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry. The crash left Wolff in critical condition with a hip fracture, facial fracture, bruised lung and bleeding on the left side of his brain.

He spent 52 days in the hospital, including three weeks in a coma, according to his mom and court documents in the McHenry County courthouse.

His mother said Thursday though her son survived and is engaged to be married today, he still suffers symptoms of traumatic brain injury. His dream of becoming a U.S. Marine never came to be and college was too difficult given his injuries from the crash. Today he makes a living as a driver for Amazon.

At first, Wolff, a longtime school bus driver for Johnsburg schools, said she prayed for all involved in the crash.

She even prayed for the driver of the other vehicle who she would later learn was Smith and that he had a blood alcohol level of 0.225 at the time of the crash, at least three prior DUI convictions and was driving on a revoked license.

Prosecutors and Wolff disagree with his release.

I want him to remember, remember what [he] did.

—  Kim Wolff, mother of Jarrett Wolff

“I want him to remember, remember what [he] did,” Wolff said.

Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Romito said Smith’s sentence was reduced based on an old Illinois Supreme Court opinion that has been revised 28 times since 1999. She hopes to see that law changed with new legislation.

Stone said Smith is on one year of mandatory supervised release with no restrictions or conditions.

“He is and will remain sober,” Stone said. “He is in a program and he goes to meetings. His license is revoked, and he has no desire to ever drive again. He is remorseful and contrite.”

Stone said he understands the family’s emotions and his heart goes out to them. If his own child or family member were hurt by a drunken driver, he “would have strong feelings too.”

But, the law is in place to protect everyone, even those who do bad things, and the laws must be “administered fairly for everyone,” Stone said.