By Charles Keeshan | Daily Herald Staff
A Huntley man was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday after admitting he gave heroin to an 18-year-old Carpentersville woman who slipped into a coma after injecting the drug.
However, there is a good chance Joseph J. Pace, 20, will never serve that time.
Instead, under a plea bargain, a judge recommended that Pace be admitted to the Illinois Department of Corrections’ Impact Incarceration program, a boot-camp style program for young, nonviolent offenders.
If admitted, Pace could be free in about six months. If not, or if he flunks out, Pace would have to serve the 8-year term.
“This is a fair sentence because it properly assesses his degree of culpability in this case,” Pace’s attorney, George Kililis, said.
Under his deal, Pace pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, one involving the woman who overdosed and a second alleging he sold heroin to an undercover police officer in July.
McHenry County prosecutors initially charged him with drug induced aggravated battery causing great bodily harm in connection with the overdose.
The charge alleged Pace, along with the woman and a second man, drove into Chicago Aug. 15 so he could purchase heroin for them from his regular supplier.
After driving home, authorities said, Pace and the other two went their separate ways. The Carpentersville woman overdosed two days later and slipped into a coma, but has recovered since.
Kililis said Pace only agreed to buy the woman heroin in order to get money for his own drug habit.
“If you have any sympathy for what happened to her because she was a victim of an addiction, then you must have sympathy for Joe because he too was a victim of addiction,” Kililis said. “All of his actions were the result of his addiction.”