JOLIET, IL — Daniel Wells, a 63-year-old Joliet man who has absolutely no business operating a motor vehicle, is now spending his entire summer detained under the SAFE-T-Act, thanks to Will County Republican Judge Donald DeWilkins, in connection with his seventh DUI offense.
This week, Joliet Patch is backtracking and covering some of the criminal cases we were unable to cover in June including the latest aggravated domestic battery charges against Louis Goode, the son of Chicago judge Carla Policandriotes.
Like Goode, Wells was also detained during the same week. Wells was indicted in Will County on felony crimes of aggravated DUI and aggravated driving while license revoked. In 2017, the Joliet motorist was the focus of a Patch crime story headlined, "Joliet Resident Daniel C. Wells, 54, Charged With 6th DUI." That particular arrest for Wells happened after a traffic stop on Joliet's Mills Road.
According to the most recent court files, Judge DeWilkins granted the prosecution's petition to deny pretrial release against Wells, citing the dangerous standard of the SAFE-T-Act. Wells comes from the apartment units in the 500 block of Joliet's Millboro Place.
According to the filing, at 6:56 p.m. back on Sunday, June 14, Wells was stopped by the Illinois State Police while traveling east bound on Interstate 80 in the Mokena area. He was driving a Sierra pick-up truck owned by Credit Acceptance Corp. in Michigan.
"He was brake-checking for no apparent reason and crossing out of his lane of travel. His license is revoked for prior DUIs and this would be his 15th or more driving while license revoked offense," prosecutors outlined.
Court documents indicate that his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. He had an odor of alcohol on his breath. His speech was slurred, and he urinated in his pants while interacting with the trooper who stopped him.
"He struggled to walk after exiting the truck," prosecutors informed Judge DeWilkins.
Wells Already On Pretrial Release For Domestic Battery
The Illinois State Police noted how they found two open bottles of brandy from inside the truck. The bottles contained a small amount of brandy left.
"It was of the opinion that he was under the influence of alcohol," prosecutors informed Judge DeWilkins.
As for Wells, he was on mandatory supervised release for a 6-year sentence for a class X, DUI, from 2021 in Will County. Additionally, Wells was on pretrial release for a domestic battery charge filed this year in Will County that was set for trial on July 29.
"His driving while intoxicated and revoked creates a risk to our community," prosecutors emphasized in their petition. "His conditions of release from prison and on pretrial release for 26DV57 were not enough to stop him from driving under the influence on this case. There are no conditions that can be imposed on the defendant that would stop him from driving under the influence."
According to this summer's indictment, the previous six DUIs for Wells happened all in Will County on:
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