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Trucker charged in crash that killed 3

CHARLESTON — A 56-year-old truck driver has been charged with reckless homicide in a nine-vehicle crash in eastern Illinois last year that killed three Mississippi women.

The Coles County state's attorney's office has charged Everett Van Duzee of New Iberia, La., with reckless homicide, aggravated reckless driving and other charges in the Memorial Day weekend 2009 crash. He hasn't entered a plea.

Charleston attorney Jeremy Richey told the Mattoon Journal-Gazette that he represents Van Duzee, but he declined to comment on the case.

Authorities contend Van Duzee was overly fatigued when his truck ran into vehicles slowed by construction on Interstate 57.

Sixty-one-year-old Sheila Douglas of Batesville, Miss., and 68-year-old Doris Hamblin-Mayo and 80-year-old Juanita Hall of Sarah, Miss., died after their SUV caught fire. Thirteen people were hospitalized.