MARION COUNTY — A 23-year-old Brownstown man is due in Marion County court Thursday after nearly three years of fighting to have a 2016 felony DUI charge against him dismissed.
Ryan Feezel was charged in 2016 in connection with a July 2016 traffic crash on U.S. 51 north of Patoka that claimed the life of Kevin Koenegstein, an Odin resident and Salem businessman.
The Illinois Fifth Appellate Court denied a motion last month by Ryan Feezel to dismiss the felony charge of Class 2 felony aggravated DUI that resulted in the death of Kevin Koenegstein.
Feezel had argued that the state was barred from prosecuting him on the DUI charge as he had already pleaded guilty to a citation for improper lane usage and had paid the fine before the felony case was filed.
The record indicates that prior to receiving the report, the State was only aware that the defendant had caused the crash by veering out of his lane and that he had stated that he had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Prosecutors argued that the DUI offense was not “known to” the State prior to its receipt of the laboratory report indicating that methamphetamine had been detected in Feezel’s urine sample taken after the crash.
The Appellate Court agreed and remanded the case back to Marion County for prosecution and the lower court on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for Thursday morning.
