St. Charles family supports 3-year sentence for drunken driver who killed brother-in-law

A 42-year-old man was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after pleading guilty to an August 2016 drunken driving crash in Virgil Township that killed his passenger and brother-in-law, David Drewes, 35, of St. Charles.

The family of Sean M. Tardy, formerly of Maple Park and now of St. Charles, supported the sentence, his attorney said.

"His family will be doing their best to move forward," said defense attorney Daniel R. Collins. "The family approves of the disposition (of the case). The entire family, which Sean is still a member of, want to commence the healing process."

Tardy faced a sentence of three to 14 years in prison for the Aug. 6, crash, which also injured Drewes' wife, Kristie.

Under state law, a defendant guilty of aggravated DUI resulting in death also can be sentenced to probation, but a judge must rule that "extraordinary circumstances" exist for that to occur.

Kane County Judge John Barsanti accepted the plea. Tardy must serve 85% of his prison term.

Authorities charged Tardy with aggravated DUI, aggravated DUI-third offense and improper lane use after toxicology tests came back from a lab in July 2017.

Authorities said Tardy had a blood-alcohol concentration of .236 when he crashed about 2:10 a.m. The legal threshold in Illinois is .08.

Tardy was heading east on Route 64 near Fabris Road when he lost control of a 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV, causing it to roll over. Tardy also has two previous DUI arrests, according to court records - one in DuPage County in 1999 and the other in Batavia in May 2002.