By RUMMANA HUSSAIN and JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times
Shikita Woods | Illinois Dept. of Corrections
A woman who rammed her husband’s car, causing a crash that killed newspaper deliveryman Brent Nelson nearly two years ago on the South Side, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Shikita Woods, 35, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of aggravated DUI in an accident causing death before Judge Diane Cannon, according to Cook County court records. Charges of first-degree murder and reckless homicide were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.
Woods and her husband got into a drunken fight on the morning of April 12, 2015. Prosecutors said Woods was angry at her husband for moving out of their house after just three days of marriage and possibly fathering another woman’s child.
Her husband jumped into her cousin’s car and Woods followed in her red Pontiac. Woods, who had been drinking vodka for several hours, initially chased her husband and her cousin with her drinking buddy at her side around 3 a.m., prosecutors said.
Brent Nelson | Facebook
She then stopped at a gas station where her husband and her cousin had stopped, and continued to get into a physical altercation with her spouse, prosecutors said. When the men got back in their car and drove away, Woods hopped back into her car alone and followed at a high rate of speed as both cars headed east on Garfield Boulevard, Abraham said.
She caught up to the other car and rammed it four times, prosecutors said. The car was hit with such force it went onto the sidewalk, careened into a light pole and struck a parked food truck, which struck 53-year-old Brent Nelson, who was delivering newspapers at a nearby store.
Nelson was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
Woods’ blood-alcohol content was 0.17 percent, more than twice the legal limit of .08, prosecutors said.
Judge Cannon sentenced her to 14 years in prison Tuesday, according to court records. She will receive credit for 709 days served in the Cook County Jail, and must serve three years of supervised release.
Woods was booked into the Logan Correctional Center to begin serving her sentence Wednesday, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.