A man charged in a 2017 crash in Beecher that killed a pregnant mother and her three young sons wants to have a 16-count indictment for reckless homicide dismissed, claiming a sheriff’s deputy provided misleading information to a grand jury about the crash.
Sean Woulfe, 27, is charged in connection with the July 24, 2017, crash at Corning Road and Yates Avenue in Beecher. Woulfe, who is out on bond awaiting trial, was traveling east when he sped through a stop sign and slammed into a car carrying Lindsey Schmidt and her three young sons, prosecutors said.
A grand jury indicted Woulfe on the 16 counts in September 2017. Woulfe’s attorney, George Lenard, argued the grand jury’s decision should be dismissed because the prosecution’s only witness, a sheriff’s deputy, provided misleading information suggesting that Woulfe had told investigators he was familiar with the road he was traveling at the time of the crash.
Lenard argued police reports indicate the opposite and that Woulfe had told investigators he was not familiar with the road or the area he was traveling at the time of the crash. Woulfe lived in Beecher, but court records show he currently resides in the Orland Park area.
Will County Judge Daniel Rippy will issue his ruling on the motion to dismiss the indictment Friday.
Despite the misleading statement on Woulfe’s familiarity of the roadway, prosecutors Tuesday argued the grand jury’s indictment should stand.
“There is overwhelming support for probable cause,” Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Tuminello told Rippy.
The indictment was filed under multiple theories of the reckless homicide statute, in hopes that one of the theories would stick, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in 2017 after the grand jury’s decision. Prosecutors allege that Woulfe was speeding in excess of 20 mph over the 55-mph speed limit, that he disobeyed a stop sign and that his reckless acts caused the death of Schmidt and her three children, ages 6, 4 and 19 months, who lived in Beecher. Two of the counts allege that he caused the death of Schmidt’s unborn child.
Lenard noted grand jurors were not presented with evidence suggesting that Woulfe was distracted, texting or under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash and argued that Wright’s misleading testimony suggesting Woulfe was familiar with the road could have factored into the grand jury’s decision to find that Woulfe acted in a reckless manner.
According to police reports presented during a hearing Tuesday, Woulfe told investigators he was unfamiliar with the road and the area. Wright on Tuesday said he did not review reports before providing his testimony to the grand jury and rather recalled statements from another deputy who had told him Woulfe had said he was familiar with the road. Lenard, however, noted those statements were not recorded in any of the police reports and that prosecutors did not make an attempt to correct Wright’s testimony before the grand jury.
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