Micheal D. Johnson sentenced to 4 years in prison after Bishop Ford DUI plea

MARKHAM, Ill. -- A downstate man was sentenced to seven years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to a 2013 DUI crash in which a woman fell out of an SUV on the Bishop Ford Freeway and died.

Michael D. Johnson, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of failing to report a fatal accident and one count of aggravated DUI involving death, court records show.

Judge Anna Helen Demacopoulos accepted the plea and sentenced Johnson to four years in prison on the first count and three years in prison on the second count, court records show. The sentences are to be served consecutively.

Johnson was driving an SUV on I-94 on Feb. 12, 2013, when Jennifer Mitchell, 27, fell out of the passenger side of the vehicle near 154th Street in Dolton, police said at the time.

Johnson did not stop and continued driving until the SUV crashed at an exit ramp near 127th Street, police said. He tried to run away but Illinois State Police troopers arrested him.

Mitchell, of the 9200 block of South Paxton, was fatally struck by at least two vehicles and died at the scene, authorities said at the time.

Johnson, of the 3800 block of Wanda Road in Edwardsville, must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence and then serve two years of supervised release afterward, court records show.

Source: Sun-Times Media Wire - Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2014.)