A Jan. 6 defendant who, while intoxicated, drove in the wrong direction down an Illinois highway and collided with a woman, resulting in her death and requiring identification through her nail polish due to the condition of her body, is now on his way to prison.

Shane Jason Woods, 47, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison on Wednesday for causing the death of 35-year-old Lauren Wegner near Springfield. This followed his April conviction for reckless homicide, aggravated driving under the influence leading to death, and aggravated fleeing and eluding—a conviction that spared him from a first-degree murder charge which could have resulted in a life sentence.

Previously, Woods had faced convictions for assaulting a press photographer and police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, actions for which he was later pardoned by President Donald Trump.

In accordance with the Illinois court’s ruling, Woods is required to serve 85 percent of the 14 years associated with the DUI charge as well as 50 percent of the three-year sentence for aggravated fleeing and eluding. His five-year sentence for reckless homicide will be served concurrently with the other charges.

Wegner’s parents and a close friend spoke to the judge before the sentencing, according to a courtroom report from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Her friend Meghan O’Dea turned toward Woods and reportedly said “this is what evil looks like.”

“You saw what he did to her,” she stated, adding her friend’s death filled her with “unadulterated rage.”

“Lauren had to be identified by the color of her nail polish,” she said.

Bill and Evelyn Wegner said their daughter was “beautiful both inside and out.”

Woods address the Wegners and her loved ones directly.

“That night, I took the sadness, the despair, the hopelessness and guilt, multiplied it by 1,000 and gave it to your family,” he reportedly said.

Woods, apparently distressed following an argument and impending decades-long imprisonment for his involvement in the Jan. 6 riot, drove off after leaving a bar on Nov. 8, 2022. He fled a traffic stop, eventually crashing head-on into Lauren Wegner’s vehicle, resulting in her death.

The now-convicted felon took the stand in his own defense at trial, Chicago Sun-Times reported. He spoke of how his involvement in the Capitol riot weighed on him and how he was “national news.”

“Millions and millions of people hated me,” he reportedly testified.

Woods said that as his marriage fell apart in 2019 and 2020, he began to closely follow politics. Asked if he was an “ardent” supporter of Trump, he reportedly said he was “an ardent supporter of Americans.”

Wegner’s parents wore her ashes is necklaces around their necks and held them as the verdict was read, per the Sun-Times. Her father told the newspaper afterward that he and his wife were “not totally happy with the verdict. But we can’t argue with the verdict.”

Woods’ attorneys had argued for the lesser verdict and his supporters quietly applauded in approval when the verdict was read, the Sun-Times reported.

Prosecutors argued Woods knew there was a “strong probability” his actions could cause harm or death which is what led to the murder charge. But his defense attorneys noted that police originally arrested Woods for reckless homicide and not murder, per the Sun-Times.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the Illinois State Police trooper who provided the probable cause report for Woods’ arrest said in the report that while standing in the door to Woods room at the hospital where he was taken after the crash, the trooper overheard a conversation between Woods and a visitor.

“Nurses requested the visitors exit but prior to them leaving and while I was standing in the doorway of the treatment room, I overheard Woods speaking with a visitor, a white, middle age female, with blonde hair,” the trooper’s statement said. “During the conversation, I heard Woods state that he had intended on crashing his vehicle into a truck tractor semi-trailer.”

The state trooper said that Woods refused to answer questions after having been read his Miranda rights, but noted that “neighbours advised [him] later that an open 12oz Bud Light can had been located with the property that had been in Woods’ vehicle at the crash scene.”

Court records showed that he faced six charges, including first-degree murder, aggravated driving under the influence, and aggravated fleeing and eluding a peace officer.

The trooper described what may have been Woods’ mindset before the fatal crash.

“It should be noted through the course of the investigation I learned that Woods was a defendant in the January 6th, 2021 US Capitol Riots and was anticipating a sentence which may have been motive for the intentional traffic crash,” the trooper wrote.

Indeed, Woods had pleaded guilty in September 2022 to felony charges for assaulting a law enforcement officer and a member of the media during the Jan. 6 attack, when Trump supporters, angry over President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win, overwhelmed police and breached the building. Congress was forced to halt its certification of the Electoral College vote while lawmakers and staff either fled or sheltered in place.

In his guilty plea, Woods admitted to body-blocking a Capitol Police officer who had been hit with a chemical irritant during the melee and was pursuing the person who had sprayed her.

“As she did, Woods lowered his shoulder and rammed into her, knocking her off her feet and sending her crashing into a downed bicycle barricade,” the Justice Department had said in a press release announcing Woods’ guilty plea. “The officer felt immediate pain and the next day, she felt as if she had been ‘hit by a truck.'”

That first assault happened at around 2:10 p.m. that day. Hours later, Woods, by his own admission, went on the attack again after joining a group of rioters who were destroying media equipment.

“[H]e tossed some of it himself,” the DOJ press release said. “At the same time, a member of the news media attempted to walk away to protect himself and his camera. Woods took a running start and hit the man with a blindside shoulder tackle, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop the camera.”

A judge had sentenced Woods to 54 months, or 4 1/2 years, in prison in October 2023.

That conviction was overturned when Trump issued a pardon to all Jan. 6 defendants shortly after being sworn into office in January.

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