Batavia Woman Sentenced to Prison for 4th DUI

A Batavia woman has been sentenced to prison for being under the influence of alcohol when she crashed her car after she drove her child to school late last year.

Jeanette Baum, 32, of the 0-99 block of North Lincoln Avenue, Batavia, was sentenced Friday by Circuit Judge John A. Barsanti to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

On Jan. 4, 2013, Baum pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated driving under the influence, a Class 2 felony.

At about 8:55 a.m. Nov. 27, 2012, Batavia police, responding to a 911 call, found Baum sitting in the driver’s seat of a white 2002 Mitsubishi Galant. The car was stalled after having crashed into a utility box near North Avenue and North Jefferson Street. Officers detected a strong odor of alcohol on her breath, and observed slurred speech and glassy eyes.

Baum told police that she just dropped off her child at school and was returning home.

After Baum failed to successfully complete standardized field sobriety tests, she was placed under arrest. At the police station, a breath test indicated that Baum’s blood-alcohol concentration was .190.

Baum had three prior DUI violations, between 1997 and 2007, in Kane and DuPage counties.

At the time of the 2012 crash, Baum was on probation for a 2011 conviction in Kane County for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a Class 1 felony.

Part of Friday’s hearing was to resentence Baum for violating terms of her probation sentence in that case. The sentence is four years for the aggravated DUI and four years for the drug possession. The terms are to be served concurrently.

According to Illinois law, Baum is eligible for day-for-day credit. Baum was given credit for at least 165 days served in the Kane County jail, where she has been held since her arrest in lieu of $20,000 bail.

The case was prosecuted by Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney David Belshan.

SOURCE: Kane County State's Attorney's Office