With defendant convicted in 2017 DUI death hospitalized, his sentencing is rescheduled a third time

MORRISON – Wednesday’s sentencing of a former Milledgeville man who drove drunk and killed a woman almost six years has been delayed a third time because, according to court records, he is hospitalized.

A status hearing on Douglas M. Strehlow’s sentencing will be July 24 in Whiteside County Court. He may be sentenced that day.

Strehlow, 49, and now of Sterling, pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to aggravated DUI resulting in death. Per a plea agreement, a second count was dismissed.

He was driving with a blood alcohol content almost three times the legal limit when he hit a car Aug. 19, 2017. Summer D. Harmon, 40, of Sterling died three days later as a result of the injuries she suffered.

Strehlow faces three to 14 years in prison, and must serve 85% of the term levied.

He was to be sentenced March 10, but on March 8 that hearing was moved to June 7.

Strehlow underwent back surgery March 1, and his alcohol detection monitor, which he was required to wear on his ankle in the wake of his plea, was removed. Because of supply chain issues, Whiteside County Court Services did not at the time have another monitor available to reattach, court records show.

On June 7, his sentencing was rescheduled for Wednesday to accommodate ongoing physical therapy resulting from the surgery, according to a court order.

No reason for Strehlow’s hospitalization was provided in Wednesday’s online court record.

Strehlow was traveling south on state Route 40 in rural Sterling, just north of Fulfs Road, about 2:40 a.m. when his pickup crossed the center line and collided almost head-on with Harmon’s car. She died of blunt force trauma Aug. 22, 2017, in a Wisconsin hospital.

According to testimony from then-Whiteside County Sheriff Sgt. Kris Schmidt, Strehlow told the first officer to arrive that the crash “was all my fault.”

He consented to a blood draw at the scene and his blood also was drawn at CGH Medical Center. The State Police lab put the first BAC at .229; the legal limit is .08. The second blood draw result was .270, Schmidt testified.

Strehlow was arrested June 2, 2018, and held on $500,000 bond. That was reduced to $300,000 on Sept. 28, 2018, and two years later, on Sept. 4, 2020, he posted $30,000 and was freed pending sentencing.

A civil suit accusing him and two of the bars that served him of Harmon’s wrongful death still is proceeding; a case management conference is set for Oct. 2.