Shorewood Resident James Durkin Faces 7th DUI Charge

SHOREWOOD, IL - A 54-year-old man who lives in Shorewood was arrested early Saturday morning in Joliet on charges of committing his seventh drunken driving offense. A criminal complaint on file at Will County's Courthouse indicates that James John Durkin faces two felony counts of aggravated DUI and one felony charge of driving while revoked/suspended. Durkin, 54, resides in the 1100 block of Harvest Drive in Shorewood's Country West subdivision off River Road.

This week, a Will County judge set a $75,000 bond for Durkin. The defendant spent almost five days in the Will County Adult Detention Facility. Then, late Wednesday morning, Durkin came up with the necessary 10 percent to get out of jail. Durkin has hired a private attorney, Randy Gordon out of Morris, to defend him.

Patch reached out to Durkin's lawyer on Wednesday afternoon for comment. "He did not blow," Gordon pointed out. "There is no breathalyzer."

Gordon stressed that the police and prosecution are still a long ways away from being able to prove his client is guilty of any crimes. At the moment, Gordon said, he does not yet have access to the Will County Sheriff's police reports of his client's arrest or any squad car video footage surrounding the traffic stop.

The criminal complaint states that Durkin was arrested on October 28 after being pulled over on Joliet's Gardner Street. Jail logs indicate that Durkin's mugshot was taken at 3:20 a.m. The complaint makes reference to James Durkin's previous DUI violations:

1. November 23, 1985 in Cook County
2. July 9, 1988 in Cook County
3. August 28, 1997 in Cook County
4. June 28, 2007 in Will County
5. November 30, 2008 in Will County
6. March 29, 2009 in Georgia

Regarding Durkin's latest DUI arrest, Will County's court records indicate, "said violation being a seventh or subsequent violation."

Mugshot of James Durkin via Will County Sheriff's Department