Man declared unfit to be tried for fatal 2004 crash

JONESBORO, Ill. -- A judge has ruled a man will always be mentally unfit to be tried on charges arising from a traffic wreck that killed five people from Wisconsin.

"None of us like this result," Judge Ronald Eckiss said Friday in throwing out multiple counts of reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence against Jason Kyle King. "At this time I have no choice but to enter the discharge of this case."

The 2004 crash in Union County killed four Milwaukee women and a 7-year-old boy. King's attorney has argued that his client's brain was permanently damaged in the crash.

A prosecutor said he would prosecute King if he was found to be faking or exaggerating his symptoms -- something relatives of the victims, and King's ex-wife, already suspect.

Authorities said King, 33, of Cypress, Ill., was driving the wrong way on Interstate 57 about 4 a.m. on June 19, 2004, when his pickup truck slammed head-on into one car in a several-vehicle convoy going to a family reunion in Arkansas.

Killed were Chantel Mason, 25, Tonia Conley, 30, Unique Harris, 23, Veleka Fleming, 27, and Harris' 7-year-old son, Derrion Sutton.

In court Friday, Eckiss explained that though there was enough evidence to find King guilty, the man's brain damage and the apparent lack of possible treatment forced him to release King.

Among about two dozen of the victims' family members who came from the Milwaukee area to Friday's hearing, Linda Groves recalled being asleep in the convoy when she heard a loud boom. She told the court she awoke and saw chaos around the car ahead of her.

Other relatives of the victims "were trying to save anybody they could, they were smashing windows and there was crying and screaming," she said. "I dropped to my knees because I could see we were in desperate need of help."

Some upset by Friday's outcome suspect King has been faking his mental problems. They noted he answered for himself in a deposition during his divorce that happened after the wreck but before he was declared unfit for trial.

"I honestly don't understand how one day he is sitting in court with me and the next month they say he can't do it," King's ex-wife, Jennifer Gunn, said Friday.

Family members left the courtroom without commenting.