A Highland Park woman who crashed her car into a family while high on canned air, killing a girl, was sentenced Wednesday to a total of nine years in prison on two different counts, but she'll only serve about 3 1/2.
Judge James Booras sentenced Carly Rousso to five years in prison for reckless homicide and four years for aggravated DUI. The sentences will be served concurrently, Booras said, which means at the same time.
"She caused the death of an individual, of a 5-year-old child," Booras said in court. "She caused the hurt, the emotional hurt for her family."
The Lake County State's Attorney's office said Rousso will likely spend about 3 1/2 years in prison.
Rousso addressed the court Wednesday expressing her regret.
"I'm so sorry for what happened," Rousso said. "I wish more than anything that it could have been me instead."
Rousso, 20, was convicted at a bench trial in May on reckless homicide charges in connection with the Labor Day 2012 crash that killed Jaclyn Santos-Sacramento. A Lake County judge upheld that conviction in July.
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"There’s like no words in the English-speaking language that can convey how I truly feel right now," Rousso said. "I just want to prevent this from happening again."
Through a friend and translator, Juan Ruelas, the victim's father expressed his wish for Rousso to get the maximum sentence of 14 years.
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"He's not comfortable with the decision of the judge. He's really angry that taking the life of Jaclyn is not going to recover their pain they are having right now," Ruelas said.
During Wednesday's court proceedings prosecutors read Impact statements prepared by Santos-Sacramento's parents. Tomas Santo de Jesus said in his that he still hasn't told the girl's siblings that she's dead.
"This destroyed my entire life. My children are always asking me where their sister is. I never told them she died, but rather she's in Mexico. I could not bring myself to tell them the truth," he wrote. "She ran over an entire family .. I still have my two little boys, although no one will ever replace my little girl. You cannot imagine how painful this is."
Rousso detailed her drug use and talked about the pain they'd caused at an emotional gathering last month at a Chicago church.
"They destroy lives," Rousso, told a group of 30 teens at Lincoln Methodist Church in the Pilsen neighborhood.
"On Sept. 3, 2012, I made the terrible decision to drive under the influence. I passed out behind the wheel of the car. My car went over four lanes of traffic and hit the pedestrian family," she said.
At the beginning of her trial, Rousso pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, but maintained her not guilty plea to aggravated DUI, the more serious of the charges.
