|
Traveling Sales Crews
An Information Web Site
Public Documents, Records, and Editorials
Quad-City Times - Iowa
Original URL
Magazine business owner linked to van crash will go to prison for OWI
By Kay Luna/CLINTON BUREAU/Nov. 3, 2000
CLINTON, Iowa - The owner of a magazine subscriptions business linked to a Wisconsin van
crash that killed seven young people has been sentenced to five years in prison for
third-offense drunken driving.
With a weak smile, former rural DeWitt resident Karleen Hillery - now of Coal Valley, Ill. -
was led away in handcuffs Thursday after Clinton County District Judge David Sivright handed
down the prison term.
The sentencing came on the heels of Judge Charles Pelton's recent decision to reject a
plea agreement reached between Hillery and the county attorney's office, which would have
given her 30 days in jail with time out for work and to attend court hearings related to
the van crash last year.
During her sentencing hearing Thursday, Hillery pleaded with the court to show leniency
in her punishment, but that did not sway Sivright.
"I don't feel time in county jail is appropriate for anyone in Ms. Hillery's situation,"
Sivright said. "She has been in a treatment program in Illinois, and has done well.
But she needs structured after-care. It's better for her to be in a facility that has the
expertise and resources for her. She's better off there than sitting in our county jail."
Hillery owns the Illinois-based Subscriptions Plus company, which processed subscriptions
for Youth Employment Services, or YES, that hired the seven young salespeople killed in
the van crash near Janesville, Wis., in March 1999.
No one representing YES has attended any of the van crash-related court hearings to date,
leading to automatic convictions against YES for seven counts of homicide and numerous
other charges connected to the crash. A civil lawsuit will continue against Hillery's
ex-husband, 31-year-old Choan Lane - who is the registered agent for YES - and Hillery and
her company.
Hillery's attorney, Doug Scovil, asked the court allow her to leave prison for those
court hearings in the future. Sivright agreed to that request Thursday.
The judge also will let Hillery leave custody for employment obligations, but did not
specify what that might entail. Scovil declined to say after the hearing what line of
work Hillery is involved in now.
She was arrested for her third drunken driving charge in October 1999, when an Iowa
State Patrol officer stopped her newer-model Chevrolet Corvette Indy Pace Car on the old
U.S. 61 south of DeWitt for a license plate violation.
Smelling alcohol, the trooper gave her three field sobriety tests, including a one-leg stand,
which she failed. In an apparent attempt to trick the breathalyzer test, she then began
eating paper matches.
On Thursday, Hillery said she has not been involved with alcohol since the OWI arrest
because drinking "has not been a good thing" for her.
"The choices that I made were poor and not in good judgment," she said. "I've learned by
those mistakes. I can't give you any excuses."
Sivright told her he appreciated her comments, especially because she did not make any
excuses for her behavior.
"If you mean that, you have a chance to be successful and meet sobriety," he said.
Sivright said he checked with an OWI rehabilitation facility in Davenport, and there is
bed space to accommodate her there. However, he was not sure how long she would actually
stay in custody there.
Although she was sentenced to five years in prison, Sivright said that time likely will be
reduced by the Iowa Department of Corrections. Hillery has a right to appeal the
sentencing within 30 days.
More in court
Karleen Hillery is linked to the van crash that claimed seven lives in March 1999, when a
20-year-old driver from Clinton, Iowa, tried to change places with another passenger
while driving on Interstate 90 near Janesville, Wis.
The van, carrying 14 young magazine salespeople, crashed. Seven were killed, and five
were injured.
Hillery owns Subscriptions Plus, a company that maintained subscriptions for the
DeWitt-based magazine company called YES. That company's registered agent is Hillery's
ex-husband, Choan Lane.
YES was convicted in a Wisconsin court in June of seven count of homicide by negligent
use of a vehicle connected to the crash. The company was ordered to pay $132,000 in
fines and pay restitution to the victims' families.
The company also was convicted of two counts of physical abuse of a child, three
counts of reckless injury, one count of recklessly endangering safety and four misdemeanors
of contributing to truancy.
However, no one has appeared for the corporation in any court hearings, so the decision
was made by default without a trial.
Civil court proceedings that name Hillery and her company as defendants are pending.
Return To The Documents and Editorial Index
Take Me To The Information Index
|