Victim’s father lashes out during sentencing for fatal DUI driver

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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:51AM

ST. CHARLES TWP. — An outburst by a grief-stricken parent and an angry rebuke by a Kane County judge overshadowed Thursday’s re-sentencing hearing for a Wayne man convicted in a fatal 2009 crash.

Onofrio Lorusso was back before Judge Timothy Sheldon because of an underage drinking ticket he received in November at a party in Des Plaines.

In May 2010, Sheldon sentenced Lorusso to three years of probation for reckless homicide and aggravated drunken driving in the fatal crash in St. Charles. The November underage drinking ticket for Lorusso, who turns 21 next week, violated his terms of probation.

At Thursday’s hearing, Sheldon ultimately sent Lorusso to the Kane County jail for 30 days and ordered him to wear an alcohol-detection bracelet device for three months.

“I thought you would be a success story,” Sheldon said to Lorusso. “... You have disappointed me.”

Earlier in the hearing, Sheldon spoke to the crowded courtroom to explain his decision. As he began to say, “I am not prepared to give up on (Lorusso),” Gregory Godee, father of the victim in the 2009 crash, stood up and shouted “How much did they pay you this time?”

Deputies immediately handcuffed Godee, who was charged with criminal contempt. Deputies were leading Godee to a holding cell when Sheldon loudly told Godee not to pin all the fault for his son’s death on Lorusso. Lorusso and Godee’s son, Cameron, 18, were at the Godee house for a graduation party before the fatal crash.

“You can’t blame everything on (Lorusso),” Sheldon said from the bench. “You were gone. How did 300 empty beer cans get in your house?”

Sheldon also said he had received a threatening letter from Godee’s wife, but records show no indication of charges resulting. It was not immediately clear whether the letter was ever investigated.

Lorusso, Godee and two other passengers were in Lorusso’s Ford Explorer when it crashed in the 3100 block of Royal Fox Drive in St. Charles on the night of June 14, 2009. Lorusso had a blood-alcohol level of .227 and tested positive for marijuana. The Explorer, driven by Lorusso, was traveling 77 mph in a 25 mph zone when it left the road, struck a mailbox, parked car and two trees before wrapping around a second tree.

After Sheldon finished Lorusso’s sentencing, he called Gregory Godee back to the bench.

Godee apologized for his courtroom outburst. Godee said he was on the road working as a trucker the day of the party and crash.

Sheldon accepted the apology and said if he had a choice, he never would have wanted to hear the case. “I understand the hurt is still very close to the nerve,” Sheldon said.

Sheldon then released Godee immediately from custody. Godee declined comment outside the courtroom.

“We didn’t get any justice today,” said Kathryn Godee, Cameron’s grandmother. “He didn’t learn anything today.”