Public Defender Employee To Plead Guilty In Fatal Glenwood Road Crash: Attorney

JOLIET — Over three years since a Will County Public's Defender Office employee, Maria Aiello, ended the life of Joliet doctor Ednalice Pagan-Romney by crashing into her car on Glenwood Avenue at a speed of 111 mph, she'll be sentenced next week following her guilty plea, her lawyer Daniel Walsh told Joliet Patch on Wednesday afternoon.

The blind plea and sentencing will take place Tuesday afternoon on the eighth floor of the Will County Courthouse. Due to the Will County judiciary's conflicts of interest, an out-of-town judge from Kankakee and Iroquois counties is presiding over Aiello's criminal charges. Aiello faced eight counts of reckless homicide and two counts of aggravated driving under the influence.

Walsh told Joliet Patch that his client's jury trial, which had been scheduled to begin this month, was removed from the court calendar. Walsh said he expects Aiello to plead guilty and also get sentenced on Tuesday. Walsh declined to comment on what type of sentence he is anticipating for his client or offer more specifics regarding the plea agreement with prosecutors.

According to the prosecution's 2023 petition to deny pretrial release, at 8:16 p.m. on March 15, 2022, a white 2020 Acura TLX driven by Dr. Pagan-Romney was stopped at the red light on westbound Glenwood Avenue at Springfield Avenue. A 2015 Chevrolet Trax, driven by Aiello, was also going west on Glenwood at speeds estimated to be 80 to 100 mph by several witnesses, prosecutors said.

When Aiello's Chevrolet Trax reached the intersection, she crashed into the back of the Joliet doctor's car, prosecutors said. The doctor's car then collided with a tree on the north side of Glenwood and became engulfed in flames. She was unable to escape due to the fire, and was pronounced dead at the scene, prosecutors said.

As for Aiello, she was airlifted to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood with multiple injuries herself. Her blood and urine screens found that Aiello had PCP, cocaine, opiates and cannabis in her system. The EMTs administered opiates during her ambulance trip to the hospital.

Joliet police later determined that Aiello was driving at 111 mph a half-second before the crash and she was not applying pressure to her brakes, prosecutors outlined.

"The report also shows that for the five seconds prior to the crash, defendant was traveling 1110 mph or higher the entire time," prosecutors revealed back in 2023.

On March 29, 2022, authorities searched Aiello's car and found three pills in her wallet. The wallet had her public defender's office badge and ID card in it. The pills were determined to be acetaminophen and hydrocodone bitartrates.

"Videos captured defendant traveling at a high rate of speed prior to the crash, the crash itself and the cars after the crash," the prosecution concluded.

Now 49 years old, Aiello was kept in the Will County Jail on bail from Aug. 24, 2022, until Oct. 19, 2023, when the out-of-town judge, William Dickinson, found in favor of the SAFE-T-Act and ordered her released from detention. She has remained free ever since. These days, Aiello lives in the 1400 block of Briggs Street in Lockport, her court files show.

At the time of the fatal crash on Glenwood Avenue, Aiello worked as an investigator for Will County's public defender.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Fiery Fatal Crash On Glenwood: Will Co. Investigator Freed From Jail