A Greene County woman was sentenced to serve time in prison this morning following a 2021 traffic crash. 35-year-old Ashley Graves previously pleaded guilty to the charge of Aggravated DUI resulting in personal injury, a Class 4 Felony, on December 19, 2022.
The charge stems from an incident on October 19, 2021, where Graves admitted in a criminal information that she was driving a motor vehicle southbound on Illinois Route 67 around Berdan Road when her vehicle struck an oncoming vehicle seriously injuring the driver.
According to Greene County State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe, the results of a blood draw taken shortly after the crash indicated that Graves had methamphetamine in her system.
Briscoe says the matter was set for a contested sentencing hearing this morning. At the sentencing hearing, the State argued that an Illinois Department of Correction sentence was appropriate, based upon the serious nature of the offense, the impact Graves’ actions had on the victim and her previous unsuccessful terms of probation.
Graves addressed the court acknowledging her drug addiction and asked for a probation sentence with a focus on drug treatment. Circuit Court Judge Zachary Schmidt ultimately sentenced Graves to serve six years in IDOC and ordered her to pay a $500.00 county fine plus court costs.
Following the sentencing, State’s Attorney Briscoe said “the state believed that the Department of Corrections was the most appropriate disposition in this case, and believe the sentence imposed by Judge Schmidt to be appropriate.
The victim in this case still suffers from the impact of this crash, both physically and emotionally. A non-DOC sentence, I think, would minimize what he has gone through since the crash”.
Briscoe went on to say “Cases like this are an unfortunate reminder of how quickly multiple lives can be impacted in a matter of moments”
Graves was taken into custody immediately following the hearing.