Friends: Getz paying daily for decision

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A friend says Ann Marie Getz pays daily for the accident that killed three members of the Jahn family.

“She can’t get it out of her mind,” noted Brenda Whalen of Morris, just prior to the sentencing  hearing Tuesday for the 43-year-old Ransom woman. “It’s there every day. It’ll never go away. It doesn’t matter how long they give her – she has to live with this the rest of her life.

“She loved kids so much, it’s unreal. That really, really hurt her bad. She’s having a really hard time with that - she really is.”

The incident occurred about 8 p.m. Nov. 6, 2008, when the westbound Getz auto went through the stop intersection on Gardner Road and struck the southbound auto on Illinois 47 driven by Amanda Jahn, 27.

Mrs. Jahn, formerly of Morris, and her two children, Ryan Jahn, almost 4, and Kaitlyn Jahn, 11 1/2 months old, died in the accident. The husband and father, Joshua Jahn, was home in Dwight at the time, but went to the accident scene shortly after the crash occurred.

Getz pleaded guilty in May to one count of aggravated driving under the influence, and has been in jail under $1 million bond since the accident. Testimony at the hearing noted her car smashed into the Jahn auto at a minimum of 68 miles per hour, and her alcohol/blood level was .18 at the time. In Illinois, a blood/alcohol level of .08 is considered intoxicated.

“Accidents happen. I know she should not have been drinking, but that’s why they’re called accidents. She wasn’t painting her fingernails or anything,” said Whalen, referencing a fatal accident in which a Morris driver struck another vehicle while painting her fingernails.

“I feel awful for the (Jahn) family. I don’t even know what they’re going through, and God forbid if I ever have to.”

Getz has had previous tickets for DUI, and for driving on a suspended or revoked license. Whalen says this incident will probably stop Getz’s use of alcohol.

“I definitely think she’s learned a very, very hard lesson,” Whalen said.

Whalen believes the judicial system is partly at fault, too.

“Maybe she shouldn’t have been driving at all. Maybe she shouldn’t even have had her license. Maybe they should have stiffer penalties,” she said.

“People get away with murder every day. Liquor is legal. Then when they’re caught drinking and driving, it’s worse than the girl painting her fingernails who killed that one lady. That’s neglect, too, you know.”

Whalen and Getz met through a cousin. When Whalen’s grandson was born, Getz redid the nursery for her friend, and spent about $500.

“Bad things happen to good people,” Whalen noted. “She knows she’s going to be punished, and that it’s probably not going to be very light. She’s having a hard time coping with it, but ... ”

Only her fiancé is allowed to visit Getz in the county jail. Whalen would go if she could.

“She did do wrong, but she’s paying, no matter whether she’s locked up or not,” Whalen said. “Her mind, and her heart, it’s just broken. She truly, truly is remorseful.”

Whalen and Getz have corresponded through letters.

“From them, you can tell it’s just absolutely killing her. I don’t know what prison will do to her. I don’t know if she can handle prison. I really don’t. She’s tough, but that’s a whole different world,” Whalen said.

“I don’t think it’s the prison that scares her as much as what she’s done. It’s a whole family, and she’s totally devastated. I guess her mom’s even kind of written her off. It’s supposed to be unconditional love, but some people can’t, I guess.”

If Whalen was not acquainted with Getz, she probably would want the Ransom woman to receive the maximum prison sentence.

“I would probably want her to get 30 years or whatever they’re asking,” Whalen said. “But it’s a little bit different when you know them, and you know they would never, ever do anything like that intentionally. She did make a grave error, but who hasn’t?”

Grundy County State’s Attorney Sheldon Sobol is asking presiding Judge Robert Marsaglia for the maximum 28-year sentence.

Bernadine Zolics of Morris, who befriended Getz through Whalen and also attended the hearing, said Getz is a good person.

“This is something that happened, and it’s awful,” she said of the accident. “She’s paying for it every day. It’s killing her.”

Victim Advocate Dave Perocci said after the hearing he has been through other sentencing hearings.

“Although I’ve never seen one quite like this,” Perocci said, calling it a very emotional day.

Dressed in muted green, her eyes red from crying, her wrists and legs shackled with handcuffs and leg irons joined by a long heavy chain, Getz sat at the defense table in the crowded courtroom Tuesday with her legal counsel, Grundy County Public Defender J. D. Flood.

Although holding her head down most of the time, Getz occasionally looked at the judge and others who testified. While Josh Jahn told of finding his family had died in the accident, she watched him with tearful eyes and choked back sobs.

Jahn described his wife and children. His voice broke as he told of seeing his son on a stretcher at the scene of the accident. Getz quietly cried into a handkerchief, rattling the chain connecting her manacled hands and feet against the table’s edge.

She hid her face in the handkerchief when Mrs. Jahn’s father, Tom Borneman of Morris, said Getz made the choice to drink and drive.

Her whole body constantly trembled throughout the three-hour hearing, even as she stood and asked for leniency, saying her punishment will last a lifetime.

“She’s not a monster,” Flood told the court.