• 2025-04-17 19:12:14
• Gun Violence

JOLIET — Three years and one month after a member of the Will County Public's Defender, employee Maria Aiello, ended the life of Joliet doctor Ednalice Pagan-Romney by crashing into the back of her car at the stop light for Glenwood Avenue at a speed of 111 mph, the criminal defendant will get sentenced next week as part of a plea agreement with the Will County State's Attorney's Office, her lawyer Daniel Walsh of Joliet informed Joliet Patch on Wednesday.

The blind plea and sentencing will take place on Tuesday afternoon on the eighth floor of the Will County Courthouse. Due to the Will County judiciary's conflicts of interest, an out-of-town judge from Kankakee and Iroquois Counties is presiding over Aiello's criminal charges.

Walsh told Joliet Patch that his client's jury trial, which was set for next week, has been removed from the court calendar and that he expects her to be sentenced on Tuesday. Walsh declined to comment on what type of sentence he is anticipating for his client.

According to the prosecution's petition to deny pretrial release petition, at 8:16 p.m. on March 15, 2022, a White 2020 Acura TLX driven by Dr. Pagan-Romney, the crash victim, was stopped at the red light along westbound Glenwood Avenue and Springfield Avenue. A 2015 Chevrolet Trax, driven by Aiello, was going west on Glenwood at speeds estimated to be 80 to 100 mph by several witnesses.

When Aiello's Chevrolet Trax reached the intersection, she crashed into the back of the Joliet doctor's car and the doctor's car then collided with a tree on the north side of Glenwood and became engulfed in flames. The victim was unable to escape due to the fire and was pronounced dead at the scene, prosecutors noted.

As for Aiello, she was airlifted to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood with multiple injuries herself. The blood and urine screening found that Aiello had PCP, cocaine, opioids and cannabis in her system. The Joliet police later determined that Aiello was driving at 111 mph a half-second before the crash and she was not applying pressure to her brakes.

"The report also shows that for the five seconds prior to the crash, defendant was traveling 1110 mph or higher the entire time," prosecutors revealed back in 2023.

On March 29, 2022, authorities searched Aiello's car and found three pills in her wallet. The wallet had her badge and ID card on it. The pills were determined to be Acetaminophen and Hydrocodone Bitartrates.

"Videos captured defendant traveling at a high rate of speed prior to the crash, the crash itself and the cars after the crash," the prosecution concluded.

Now 49 years old, Aiello was kept in the Will County Jail on bail from Aug. 24, 2022, until Oct. 19, 2023, when the out of town judge, William Dickinson, found in favor of the SAFE-T-Act and ordered her released from detention and she has remained a free citizen ever since.

Nowadays, Aiello lives in the 1400 block of Briggs Street in Lockport, her court files show.

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