A 26-year-old Aurora man pleaded guilty Friday to driving drunk and high on marijuana in the 2016 crash that killed a 9-year-old girl.
Anthony S. Potochney, 26, of the 900 block of North Avenue, pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated driving under the influence, including one class 2 felony and two class 4 felonies, and failure to stop after an accident involving personal injury or death, a class 4 felony. He could get a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for the crash that killed Katie Jonak.
“This crime was entirely preventable, the result of Mr. Potochney’s selfish and irresponsible choices,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said in a statement Friday. “He was drunk, high on drugs, and driving 85 mph through downtown Aurora. He showed a complete disregard for other people.”
Calling those factors “exceptionally aggravating,” McMahon said Potochney, who is currently assigned to a county public defender, should be held accountable.
The guilty plea is a turnaround from this January, when Potochney pleaded not guilty to the entire 13-count indictment issued in December charging him with reckless homicide, three counts of failure to stop after an accident and nine counts of aggravated driving under the influence, the Beacon-News reported.
Kane County Associate Judge Linda S. Abrahamson accepted the plea Friday and gave Potochney a new court date of Jan. 16, 2018, at the county judicial center in St. Charles. If she determines extraordinary circumstances are a factor, he could get off with probation. Otherwise, he faces between three and 14 years in prison.
On Oct. 7, 2016, Katie Jonak, 9, of the 2900 block of Arbor Lane in Aurora, was a passenger in a 2009 Toyota Sienna minivan driven by her 40-year-old mother, police said last year. Two of Katie’s friends, girls ages 10 and 12, were also in the car.
In court, Kane County First Assistant State’s Attorney Jody Gleason and Assistant State’s Attorney Christine Bayer said Jonak was in the back left seat while her mother drove her and her friends home from a play rehearsal. They were northbound on Broadway Street, or Route 25, south of Pierce Street.
Potochney was driving a 2003 Cadillac Deville southbound on Broadway. At about 9:12 p.m., his Cadillac crossed into the northbound lane, prosecutors said. Jonak’s mother swerved to avoid it, but Potochney struck the minivan’s left side, according to a news release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
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Once his car stopped, Potochney ran away from the scene. When medics arrived, Katie Jonak was unresponsive, prosecutors said. Aurora Fire Department paramedics took Katie and the other girls to Presence Mercy Medical Center, where Katie was pronounced dead at 9:44 p.m.
Both of the other girls were hospitalized, one for injuries including a bruised lung and the other with a hip injury, prosecutors said.
Following the crash, the Beacon-News reported that Katie was a young actress at Spotlight Youth Theatre, the daughter of Westmont Junior High School Principal John Jonak, and a student at Bethel Early Learning Center. School and theater leaders and family friends described Katie as sweet, passionate and tender-hearted, a loving sister to her two siblings.
“These children had been… participating in an activity they enjoyed,” McMahon said. “Katie never made it home. Parents should not have to suffer the unimaginable grief of burying their child.”
Aurora police found and arrested Potochney the night of the crash near the High Street Bridge, crediting witnesses with identifying him as the Cadillac driver.
At the hospital where Potochney was taken for treatment of minor injuries, an Aurora police officer noted that he refused to submit to testing that would determine his blood-alcohol content level, the Beacon-News reported. However, prosecutors said his blood was drawn 4.5 hours after the crash, revealing a blood-alcohol concentration of .193.
Police reported that Potochney smelled of alcohol and marijuana and had “slurred” speech, according to a DUI report.
Prosecutors said Potochney admitted to police that he’d had six Coors Lights and four drinks’ worth of Captain Morgan, and smoked marijuana, that evening.
Just before the collision, the Cadillac was going about 85 mph in a 35 mph zone, prosecutors said.
As of Friday afternoon, Potochney was still in the county jail, where he’s been since his arrest. After he pleaded guilty, Abrahamson revoked his right to post bail, which had been reduced from the initial $750,000 to $300,000.
A civil wrongful death lawsuit Jonak’s family filed against Potochney in February was dismissed in September, records show.