A 69-year-old man who killed a 21-year-old woman in 2008 in a drunken boating crash in Wonder Lake was sentenced to a year in jail for a new drunken driving crash in McHenry County.
Ricky L. McGuire, 69, of Wonder Lake, was charged in December 2022 with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence third offense and one count of improper traffic lane usage.
A McHenry County sheriff’s deputy on May 28, 2022, discovered McGuire’s vehicle crashed into a fence at a home in Wonder Lake.
The deputy turned on his lights and approached the vehicle to check on the driver, prosecutors said.
As the deputy walked up to the vehicle, they observed the brake lights and the reverse lights turn on.
The vehicle began to back up before it went forward and crashed into the fence again, prosecutors said.
The deputy observed the vehicle do the same act four additional times before deputies were able to get the attention of McGuire, who was driving the vehicle.
The deputies smelled an odor of alcohol while talking to McGuire, prosecutors said. He also had bloodshot glassy eyes.
McGuire was transported to the hospital and testing revealed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.30, which is nearly four times the legal limit.
Prosecutors said McGuire has a prior driving under the influence conviction from 1989 and was additionally convicted in a fatal operating a watercraft under the influence of alcohol case in 2008.
McGuire drove a boat on Wonder Lake while under the influence and crashed into another boat, killing its passenger, 21-year-old Nicole Jurgens.
He was sentenced to 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections in the case.
McGuire initially entered into a blind plea of guilty to the offense of aggravated driving under the influence third offense, a Class 2 felony, in March 2024 in his latest case.
McGuire later withdrew his guilty plea and the case was set for trial, court records show.
His attorney, Frank Quatrino, said that it was determined by himself and the state’s attorney’s office that McGuire did not qualify for the Class 2 felony charge because one of his prior DUI violations involved a watercraft, which is not a vehicle as defined under Illinois statute.
Quatrino said the parties agreed to vacate McGuire’s guilty plea and proceed with a stipulated bench trial to find McGuire guilty of the lesser offense of driving under the influence of alcohol, a Class A misdemeanor.
McHenry County Judge Mark Gerhardt found McGuire guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol, a Class A misdemeanor, which carries up to 364 days in jail, in December.
A sentencing hearing was held late last month and Gerhardt sentenced McGuire to the maximum of 364 days in jail.
McGuire was taken into custody following the hearing and is set to be released from the McHenry County Jail on July 29 when accounting for day-for-day credit that he is receiving.