Feb. 04--The mother of a promising University of Chicago Law School student sobbed Thursday as she talked in a Cook County courtroom about how a crash caused by a man driving the wrong way on Lake Shore Drive while drunk had forever changed two families' lives.
Judith Wasil's son, Michael, 24, suffered traumatic brain injuries, while his friend Laura Anne LaPlante, 26, also a U. of C. law student, was killed. Both were three weeks from graduation from the prestigious school.
"Certain truths that I had always taken to be self-evident were instantly shattered," said Wasil, whose son did not attend the hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. "We were no longer a normal, happy family. My son was lying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines and fighting for his life. My family had suffered one of the worst tragedies a family can experience."
The defendant, Erik Johnson, sat with slumped shoulders looking shellshocked as Wasil spoke. He briefly appeared to lose his composure and fight back tears as Assistant State's Attorney Geraldine D'Souza read a statement from LaPlante's parents wishing Johnson's family well.
"Our beloved daughter, Laura, has been killed and her right to live is gone," wrote Daniel and Roberta LaPlante. "Her significant potential to contribute to the betterment and well-being of society will never be realized as a result of Mr. Johnson's actions. She will also not realize her own fulfillment from life, including a family of her own, professional and civic activities and sharing life with her parents and siblings.
"Laura was a leader in her short life; for her immediate and extended family, for her academic institutions and colleagues, for her friends and associates, and for everyone who knew her. ... Our family has suffered immeasurable pain and loss from Laura's death. We are not, and will never be, the same family without her. We will continue to struggle with sadness, anxiety and a variety of yet-to-be-realized tensions in all the years to come."
Johnson pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated DUI and was sentenced to eight years in prison as part of a deal worked out with the approval of both victims' families. He must serve a minimum of nearly six years in prison.
Johnson, at the time of the crash a recent Loyola University graduate who had been out drinking with co-workers, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.195 percent, about 2 1/2 times the legal limit.
His SUV, being driven south in the northbound lanes on a twisting curve of Lake Shore Drive near Navy Pier, smashed into a taxi carrying LaPlante and Wasil shortly before 2 a.m. in early May 2014. The impact knocked both into the taxi's windshield. The driver, the only one wearing a seat belt, suffered a broken elbow.
Calling it "a heart-wrenching tragedy of the worst kind," Wasil's mother said the massive injuries at first left her son unable to swallow, eat, drink, walk, talk, read or write. He has recovered physically except for a pronounced limp, she told Judge William Lacy, but his brain injury "continues to be problematic" and is "essentially a life sentence."
Wasil has difficulty even forming sentences, according to an attorney for the family.
Both victims' families have filed lawsuits against Johnson.
Johnson's father, Bill, stood and offered his apologies for the tragedy, saying he was shocked and in disbelief at his son's involvement in the crash at the time because of his "gentle, kind, caring and charitable" nature.
"There are no words to express the grief that Erik feels and his family shares over those impacted by this tragedy," he said.
"The best of us all make mistakes, and it is horrible and unfair how one mistake can hurt so many people," the father said. "A parent looks at success in life through the happiness and success of their children. We are devastated by the understanding that Erik will be punished for this mistake for the rest of his life. We will be haunted by regret over what we might have done differently as parents. We know Erik is a good person, and we and many others still love him deeply and remain proud of what he had become before this."
Moments before the judge handed down the sentence, Johnson, now 25, apologized for his actions.
"I do not deserve to be breathing the same air as all of you," Johnson told the courtroom. "I wish this senseless act had killed me alone because of my own mistake.
"I was brought up in a moral and ethical household where we were taught to respect life and a person's free will," he said. "No one in my family ever committed a crime, no one in my family ever hurt anyone. But in one night I lost complete control over everything I've ever been taught and everything I've ever believed myself.
"I have single-handedly taken away the life of a young woman already great but destined for greater things," Johnson said. "I am devastated to think of what I have taken from you."
Johnson, who vowed to work to prevent drunken driving after his release from prison, kept his eyes downcast as a deputy sheriff led him from the courtroom.
sschmadeke@tribpub.com
