Mistrial Declared In Fatal Beecher Crash Case

JOLIET, IL — A mistrial was declared Wednesday afternoon after the jury failed to come to a consensus in the reckless homicide trial in the deaths of pregnant Beecher mother Lindsey Schmidt and her three sons, Kaleb, Weston and Owen.

Sean Woulfe, now of Orland Park, was charged with 16 counts of reckless homicide in the July 2017 crash in rural Beecher.

Schmidt and her children were on their way to vacation Bible school at their church in nearby Crete when Woulfe ran a stop sign at 83 mph and struck their Subaru Outback with his Chevy pickup truck, prosecutors say.

Schmidt, who was several months pregnant, and her 1-year-old son, Kaleb, were pronounced dead at the scene. Weston, age 4, died the next evening at Comer Children's Hospital, where Owen, 6, died of his injuries two days later.

A little more than a week after the crash, a stop sign violation citation against Woulfe was dismissed. Weeks later, he was charged with 16 counts of reckless homicide. Woulfe, now 30, has been free since a Will County judge lowered his bond from $1 million to $250,000 in late August 2017.

Woulfe's trial started last week, nearly five years after the crash.

On Tuesday afternoon, Judge Daniel Rippy told attorneys there were 11 votes in favor of a guilty verdict and one juror who remained set on a not-guilty verdict. After several more hours of deliberations, he sent jurors home with instructions to return at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

After three days of deliberations, jurors in Woulfe's trial still could not come to a consensus, the jury foreman told Rippy. The jury returned to the courtroom just after noon Wednesday, and a mistrial was declared.

Defense attorney George Lenard and Assistant State's Attorney Adam Capelli told Rippy they were in agreement with declaring a mistrial given the extraordinary length of time the jury had been deliberating this week.

Rippy reminded both the prosecution and defense that a gag order remains in effect in the case. A status hearing is set for May 10.

This is a developing story. Check back with Patch for updates.