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Boomer Found Not Guilty

By Laura Gibbs

WINNEBAGO COUNTY - A courtroom filled with various emotions after the jury reaches a decision in the Joseph Boomer trial.

The jury finds the Winnebago County Sheriff's Deputy not guilty on all four counts. It only took the jury four and a half hours to clear Boomer on two counts of reckless homicide and two counts of aggravated reckless driving.

A mad dash to the elevator for the parents and immediate family of Aaron and D.J. Bachman. The two brothers died in the January 2006 crash, their sister Kori survived but has brain damage.

Prosecutor Steve Plazibat with the Illinois Attorney General's Office states, "We thought we had sufficient evidence to support the charges.  But we respect the jury's verdict and now I know it was a tough decision for them to make."

During Monday's closing arguments, the Illinois Attorney General's office told jurors Boomer didn't need to go 103 mph saying Boomer disregarded speed and couldn't control his vehicle. That testimony to the prosecution and family friends is "reckless."

Jennifer Snow whose daughter used to date D.J. states, "Anybody without a badge would have been found guilty in a heartbeat. And it wouldn't of taken two and a half years to say that either."

The verdict had Joseph Boomer in tears along with many of his supporters. But all stayed quiet in front of the media.  Defense Attorney Jerry Lund says, "It was a tragedy it was a terrible accident but the bottom line is that the jury believed that it was not a reckless act. It was an accident."

After a lot of hugging and hand shaking in the courtroom Deputy Boomer wasted no time calling people to tell them the verdict. Since the accident Boomer's been on administrative leave. It's now up to Winnebago County to decide his job status.

Now this isn't the last time these two families will meet in court. The Bachman family and Aaron Bachman's widow filed a civil lawsuit against Boomer and the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department.