A 57-year-old man is to spend about the next 14 years in prison for drug-induced homicide. Brian Mulcahy pleaded guilty to the charge this morning, admitting he supplied alcohol, cannabis, and heroin that contained fentanyl to a 15-year-old Marseilles boy who inhaled the heroin with a straw that Mulcahy also provided. The teenager died in a bedroom two years ago.
It came out in Judge Cynthia Raccuglia’s courtroom this morning that the boy was Mulcahy’s grandson. Mulcahy was supposed to be taking care of the children at a home in Marseilles when it happened.
Mulcahy accepted a 20-year prison sentence. He has more than a year and a half of credit for time already spent in the county jail. And he can get a quarter of the sentence knocked off if he’s good in prison. The case was scheduled for trial next week, but attorneys announced the plea agreement today after saying yesterday that they were close to working it out.
Getting the judge’s approval for the plea agreement took two tries. The first time this morning, when Raccuglia asked Mulcahy if he’s satisfied with the work lawyer Doug Kramarsic has done for him, Mulcahy replied, “Not at all”. Raccuglia sent the defendant and his defender to another room to work out the issues.
The second time, Raccuglia said she’d been informed that Mulcahy wanted a bond reduction earlier this year. But Mulcahy expected it under the SAFE-T Act’s no-bond provision for many offenses which has been on hold. Since an Illinois Supreme Court order stopped the law from taking effect while challenges to it work their way through the courts, it would have been pointless for Kramarsic to ask for the bond reduction. With that cleared up, Mulcahy pleaded guilty.
LaSalle County State’s Attorney Joe Navarro spoke to us about the case today:
Navarro says Mulcahy was a drug user for years and the grandson experimented with lighter drugs. He says it was a sad situation and he urges anyone with a drug user or experimenter in their family to get help.