Beecher Tragedy Defendant Sean Woulfe Loses Key Pretrial Motion

JOLIET, IL - This month marks the two-year anniversary since Lindsey Schmidt's van carrying her three young sons and her unborn child was struck by a speeding pick up truck at a rural intersection in Beecher. Lindsey Schmidt, her sons Owen, Kaleb, Weston and Baby Doe Schmidt, all died as a result of the high-speed crash.

On Friday, criminal defendant, Sean Woulfe, now of Orland, lost a major pretrial ruling that went in front of Will County Circuit Judge Daniel Rippy. The judge had been weighing whether to dismiss all 16 counts of reckless homicide filed in August 2017 by Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow. Woulfe, who is represented by long-time Joliet criminal defense lawyer George Lenard, contended that the grand jury testimony used to indict him on reckless homicide charges was flawed and tainted.

Lenard filed a motion with the judge several months back arguing that the lead investigator on the July 24, 2017 fatal crash, Will County Sheriff's Investigator Henry Wright, gave false testimony.

Whether Wright's testimony was intentional or not, Lenard argued earlier this week, should not matter. Lenard argued that Investigator Wright had violated the defendant's right to due process in the criminal justice system.

During courtroom testimony earlier this week, Lenard informed Judge Rippy that one of the grand jurors had asked a question whether Woulfe was familiar with the country intersection where Woulfe's truck collided with Lindsey Schmidt's van.

Wright, testimony showed, told the grand jury that Woulfe was in fact familiar with the rural intersection in Beecher. The grand jury subsequently returned a 16-count indictment. But Wright got it all wrong, Lenard told Will County Judge Rippy this week.

There were other police reports that indicated Woulfe was unfamiliar with his path of travel on the morning of the tragedy wreck that took five lives, Lenard informed the courtroom.

The intersection was not Woulfe's normal way to work that morning. Woulfe worked at the AT&T store in Cedar Lake, Indiana, according to testimony.

One of Glasgow's top prosecutors, Jeff Tuminello, argued in court earlier this week that Lenard's motion seeking the dismissal of the reckless homicide charges should be rejected.

Tuminello contended that Investigator Wright made a mistake but that Wright, at the time of his testimony, believed he had been told by other sheriff's deputies that Sean Woulfe was familiar with the route where the crash occurred.

Tuminello reminded the judge there were several factors that led to the indictment on reckless homicide charges including the determination that Woulfe was driving around 83 mph in the moments prior to barreling through a stop sign and striking Lindsey Schmidt's van.

Tuminello also told the judge that the sheriff's police interviewed Woulfe at a Chicago Heights hospital while Woulfe was recovering from his injuries. Woulfe told police that his truck was set in cruise control at 55 mph, according to this week's testimony.

Investigator Wright testified in Rippy's courtroom this week that Woulfe had not activated his cruise control device at the time of the crash.

Tuminello also noted that the stop sign that Woulfe ignored was visible for about 1,100 feet prior to the crash with Schmidt's van. "There's a ton of things would establish probable cause here," Tuminello told the judge. "The court should show great restraint in dismissing an indictment."

Woulfe has remained free since now-retired Will County Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes agreed to lower his $1 million bail to $250,000, on Aug. 25, 2017.