Getz seeking reduction in sentence

Comments (...)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Comments

Share

The Ransom woman who was sentenced in July to 24 years in prison for driving drunk and killing a mother and her two children has been in prison less than a year.

She is asking the court to allow her to serve only a little over nine more.

Ann Marie Getz pleaded guilty and was convicted in May of aggravated driving under the influence in connection with the night she blew a stop sign at Illinois 47 and Gardner Road and struck Amanda Jahn’s vehicle.

That accident occurred one year ago Friday, on Nov. 6, 2008.

Jahn was driving with her children, 3-year-old Ryan and 11-month-old Kaitlyn, to their Dwight home. Husband and father Josh Jahn survives them.

Getz’s attorney, Grundy County Public Defender J.D. Flood, filed a motion late this summer asking the circuit court reconsider her sentence and reduce it to just 10 years. A hearing on the motion has been set for 3 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2010.

Flood did not return calls for comment before press time Friday evening.

Although Grundy County State’s Attorney Sheldon Sobol is not surprised by the motion, he does not believe the sentence will be overturned. He does, however, expect that, at some point, the case will be appealed.

“I think we did an adequate record and think it will stand scrutiny on appeal,” Sobol said.

Flood is asking the sentence be reduced outright or for Getz to be granted a new sentencing hearing.
The motion claims the court “erred” by following a statute that was “no longer in effect” during Getz’s sentencing.

The motion states the court mandated “extraordinary circumstances” needed to be found for Getz to get a period of probation, but that the statute the language is taken from is no longer effective. According to Flood’s motion, the new statute no longer contains the “extraordinary circumstances” wording.

In addition, it states the court failed to consider several factors, including how Getz did not contemplate her criminal actions would “cause or threaten serious physical harm to another.”

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Robert Marsaglia did state the accident was reckless, but lacked intent, according to previous reports.

The motion also states another factor was neglected: “The defendant has no history of prior delinquency or criminal activity or has led a law-abiding life for a substantial period of time before the commission of the present crime.”

Getz’s current conviction was her third driving under the influence charge. The second DUI was from 1988, when she was sentenced to 60 days in jail. Her license was also revoked at a time and she was cited for driving on a revoked license, as previously reported.

The final reason listed for the motion states the court improperly considered the three victim impact statements and, therefore, gave the statements too much weight in determining the sentence.

Comments