Community Corner
Judge Upholds Rousso’s DUI Conviction
Rousso was legally intoxicated even if the compound she huffed isn't specifically named in the state statute, the judge said Thursday.
Carly Rousso’s conviction on aggravated DUI charges for the 2012 crash that killed a 5-year-old girl will stand, her trial judge ruled Thursday, according to an article in the Highland Park News.
Rousso’s lawyer has argued throughout the court proceedings that she could not be found guilty of being intoxicated because the substance that she huffed while driving, difluoroethane, is not a legally listed intoxicant in Illinois.
On Thursday, Lake County Circuit Court Judge James Booras denied a motion from the attorney on these grounds, saying that Rousso inhaled the cleaning product with the intention of becoming intoxicated and therefore the conviction was valid, the News reports.
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Rousso, then 18, , drove her car across four lanes of Highland Park's Central Avenue in September 2012. She struck and killed 5-year-old Jaclyn Santos-Sacramento, who was walking on the sidewalk with her family.
Just before her trial began in late May, she pleaded guilty to one count of reckless homicide, opting to go to trial only on the aggravated DUI charges.
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