Illinois woman gets 14 years in prison for killing Lorain County couple in 2022 DUI crash

An Illinois woman who was driving drunk when she hit and killed a Lorain County couple as they crossed the street outside a bar in East Peoria, Illinois, in April 2022 has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Stephanie Melgoza, 24, pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI and aggravated reckless driving in Illinois' 10th Circuit Court in February. Judge Tim Cusack sentenced her in his Tazewell County, Illinois, courtroom on Thursday, according to multiple media reports. "I don't believe this sentence (will) please anyone, but I believe it is the most just," Cusack said, according to a story in The Bradley Scout, the Bradley University student newspaper. Melgoza admitted to hitting and killing 43-year-old Andrea Rosewicz of Avon and 55-year-old Paul Prowant of Avon Lake with her Dodge Dart as they left Full Throttle Bar & Grill and crossed North Main Street in East Peoria just after 10 p.m. on April 10, 2022. Melgoza was a senior at Bradley University in East Peoria at the time of the crash. She faced a range of six to 28 years in prison, and under Illinois law must serve at least 85 percent of her sentence, according to media reports. "I'm so sorry for everything, and I will never, ever commit anything like that again," Melgoza said in court, according to the Pekin Daily Times newspaper. "I have not drank since that day. I do not plan on drinking ever again. I want to try to do something positive to make a difference, speak out about this and warn others about the dangers that come with drinking." Kevin Sullivan, Melgoza's attorney, previously told WEEK-TV in Peoria that his client had no malice and didn't intend to kill the couple as they crossed the street in an area of East Peoria that was not well-lit. Melgoza remained with her damaged car at the scene of the fatal crash, according to media reports. The first East Peoria police officers on the scene wrote in their reports that she appeared intoxicated, and admitted having several vodka drinks. Rosewicz's sister, Sherri Hutchison, asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence on Thursday, according to The Bradley Scout. "There are no words that can even remotely come close to inflicting pain and suffering on you … that you have inflicted on me, our families, and Andrea's friends," Hutchison said during a victim impact statement. "The magnitude is unimaginable." "The people here today are a small representative of the family and friends whose lives have been affected since you took them from us," Lisa Schroeder, Rosewicz's cousin, told Melgoza at sentencing. "We shouldn't be here today, but for your actions, we are. Everyone makes mistakes but not to this degree." Cusack said drunken driving fatalities are "the easiest fatality in the U.S. to get rid of," according to The Bradley Scout. "Our system is based on punishment and rehabilitation. I have to balance them," he said. "But it is not all about rehabilitation, there is a sentence that is necessary to deter others and that needs to be out there." Rosewicz was a Parma native who grew up in Seven Hills and graduated from Cleveland State University. Prowant worked for American Bridge Co. and was a member of Iron Workers Local 17 in Cleveland, his native city. The Bradley Scout reported that Prowant recently had been promoted to project superintendent with American Bridge Co. and was leading repairs on Peoria's McClugage Bridge. Bradley University students organized a vigil to honor Rosewicz and Prowant after their deaths. When her fellow students learned Melgoza was going to be allowed to walk at graduation even after being charged in the fatal crash, they protested. She was allowed to accept her diploma but removed from the list of students permitted to walk at graduation, The Bradley Scout reported Thursday.