Rousso Trial Continued, Constitutional Issues Mount

After aggressively questioning lawyers today over a motion to dismiss four of six counts charging a Highland Park teenager in the death of a five-year-old girl, a Lake County Criminal Court judge asked for further legal arguments and rescheduled the trial for Feb. 7 in Waukegan.

Rather than rule on a request by Carly Rousso, 19, of Highland Park to dismiss four counts of aggravated driving under the influence because she inhaled difluoroethane before driving across four lanes of traffic Sept. 3, 2012, striking and killing Jaclyn Santos-Sacramento, 5, of Highwood, Judge James Booras felt the matter required careful consideration.

“I’m going to mull over what I’ve heard and see what I can find myself,” Booras said rather than rule. “I’m taking the matter under advisement.” The judge also wanted defense attorney Doug Zeit and Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Ori to provide additional legal information on an issue Zeit raised before the oral argument began.

“The statute (under which Rousso was charged) makes an irrebutable presumption that anything that can be (ingested) can be intoxicating,” Zeit said. Booras asked Zeit to provide additional material on his argument. Ori will have an opportunity to present his version. Zeit contends the law is unconstitutionally vague.

Ori argued the law’s constitutionality could not be argued until specific facts concerning Rousso’s behavior that day were proved in court. “The defendant sniffed DFE (difluoroethane) and then went out and killed somebody,” he said. “This is very, very grave. We don’t know if the DFE caused it.”

Booras questioned Ori about other substances which affect a person’s behavior like coffee could be an intoxicant under the law and told him the words alleged in the indictment were enough to consider whether the law was flawed before there is a trial.

“Do you mean to tell me she has to be tried or plead guilty (first),” Booras asked Ori. “For the purpose of this issue these are facts,” Booras added referring to what is written in the indictment. “Her future is in jeopardy. She is in peril.”

The judge also asked both Zeit and Ori if they knew of any case anywhere in the country that issued a ruling naming difluoroethane an intoxicating substance other than one Zeit mentioned from Wisconsin. Neither knew prompting Booras to say he would do his own search.

Should Booras ultimately rule in Rousso’s favor, the decision will be automatically appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court before the case can continue or be tried, according to Ori. Rousso still faces two counts of reckless homicide if she wins her motion.

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