A defense attorney said he is appealing both the conviction and sentencing of Ronald Maas after a Lake County judge denied a motion to reconsider the 22-year sentence he handed down to Maas for a 2014 police pursuit that resulted in several severe injuries.
Circuit Judge George Strickland on Friday denied a motion to reconsider the sentence, striking down an argument from attorney Eric Rinehart that at least one charge was added consecutively to the total sentence when it should have run concurrently with other convictions.
Maas was convicted by a jury earlier this summer on charges of aggravated DUI resulting in great bodily harm and several other felonies stemming from an alcohol- and drug-fueled police chase that caused major crashes the night of Nov. 13-14, 2014.
At least two of the crash victims received permanent disabilities and suffer ongoing battles with pain as a result of crashes involving Maas, according to prosecutors and victim testimony.
Assistant State’s Attorney Rod Drobinski had asked for the maximum 27-year sentence Maas could have received at a sentencing hearing Sept. 9, and Strickland sentenced Maas to 22 years.
Strickland’s sentence included 10 years, to be served at 85 percent, for the aggravated DUI, and a total of 12 years, to be served at 50 percent, for convictions on charges of aggravated possession of a stolen vehicle and failure to report an injury accident. Several other charges Maas was convicted on will be served concurrently with the 22-year sentence.
Rinehart says the conviction on aggravated possession of a stolen vehicle should run concurrently, not consecutively, according to statute, and is sending the issue to the Illinois Appellate Court. Rinehart also is appealing the conviction of Maas at trial, on the basis that medical toxicology records used at the trial did not meet necessary standards to be used as evidence.
Strickland approved the appointment of an appellate defender for Maas after finding that he is indigent.
The charges against Maas resulted from an on-and-off police pursuit throughout much of central Lake County, during which Maas was shot in the face by police in the Round Lake Heights area but then drove through a barricade and continued to elude officers during high-speed chases for more than an hour.
Police and prosecutors said that Maas, shown by hospital tests after his arrest to be legally drunk, caused several crashes, the most severe of which hospitalized and permanently injured a couple in another car that was struck head-on as Maas drove on Route 45 in Lake Villa Township, according to trial testimony.
Tests also showed that Maas had several illegal drugs in his system following his arrest shortly after the last crash.
Although Maas was 18 at the time of the incident, Strickland said at the sentencing he had concluded Maas “cannot be rehabilitated” based on his long history of juvenile and adult offenses and probation violations, drug abuse and statements to probation personnel included in a pre-sentencing report.
Rinehart also said at Friday’s hearing on his motion that the sentence given to Maas is long enough to violate his constitutional rights, based on his age at the time and a troubled childhood.
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