An Orland Park man whose trial on multiple reckless homicide charges from Beecher ended in a mistrial in March pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of reckless homicide and was taken into custody.
Sean Woulfe, 30, pleaded guilty to the class 3 felony charges for a July 24, 2017, crash at Corning Road and Yates Avenue in Washington Township that killed Lindsey Schmidt, who was pregnant at the time, while she was driving to vacation Bible school.
Advertisement
Her 19-month-old son, Kaleb, was pronounced dead at the scene. Schmidt’s sons Weston, 4, and Owen, 6, died days later.
Prosecutors said that Woulfe was driving 83 to 84 mph within the seconds that led up to the crash, and he disregarded a stop sign.
Advertisement
During the trial earlier this year, a jury deliberated for three days, but remained deadlocked, and Will County Judge Daniel Rippy declared a mistrial. At one point during deliberations, 11 jurors were voting in favor of a guilty verdict and one juror said not guilty.
Woulfe’s attorney, George Lenard, told Rippy Thursday that he had numerous conversations with his client. The main reason Woulfe wanted to enter a guilty plea is so that the children’s father did not have to go through another trial, Lenard said.
Rippy read to Woulfe each of the five counts that he was pleading guilty to, which included reckless homicide that resulted in the deaths of Lindsey, Kaleb, Owen and Weston and the unborn child, to ensure that he understood the charges.
After the brief hearing, Woulfe was handcuffed. A sentencing date will be set Nov. 17.
A gag order remains in place, and neither side can give additional information outside the court proceedings.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
