Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis said that a Wheeling woman has been sentenced to four years in prison for drunkenly crashing a Jeep in Oswego and killing her 38-year-old passenger in 2013.
Kristen Leonard, 33, was convicted of aggravated drunken driving following the September 2013 crash on Minkler Road in Oswego, which killed 38-year-old Jason Callahan of Yorkville.
“Drivers need to realize that if you drink and drive impaired and someone died, you should expect to go to prison,” Weis said.
According to police, Leonard was driving a Jeep Cherokee southbound on Minkler Road just south of Route 71 around 12:20 a.m. when the crash occurred. Weis said Leonard was speeding when she approached a bend in the road and lost control of the vehicle. The Jeep struck a guardrail, which pierced the passenger side of the vehicle and killed Callahan.
Weis said that eyewitnesses saw Leonard leave the driver’s seat of the Jeep and that she smelled of alcohol. When police arrived, they met with Leonard and she was transferred to an Aurora hospital, where her blood was drawn.
Oswego police learned Leonard’s blood alcohol concentration was nearly two and a half times the legal driving limit at the time of the crash and charges were filed, Weis said.
“The circumstances involved in this tragic incident could have been avoided and Jason would still be alive,” Weis said. “Her actions of drinking and driving led to his death.”