Lakewood man gets 7 years in prison for 5th DUI as lawyer outlines ‘lifelong struggle with alcohol’

A Lakewood man convicted for a fifth time of driving or operating a boat while drunk was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.

Following a two-day trial, Daniel R. Meyers, 55, was found guilty by Judge Mark Gerhardt of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, a Class 1 felony, as well as two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment, according to McHenry County court records. Meyers is required to serve half his sentence and will receive credit for 237 days spent in the county jail plus about 120 for days spent in treatment programs.

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Ashur Youash, Meyers was convicted of DUI in 1993 in DuPage County; in 1998, he was convicted of operating a boat while intoxicated in McHenry County; in 2017, he was convicted of driving a car while intoxicated in McHenry County; and in 2019 he was convicted of operating a boat while intoxicated in Lake County. He also has had four other alcohol-related alleged offenses that were amended to either careless boat operation or reckless driving, Youash said.

In noting Meyer’s history, Youash argued Meyers be sentenced to 13 years in prison to send a message to him, as well as any driver in McHenry County, not to drink and drive.

“The message should be loud and it should be clear: You do not drink and drive,” Youash said. Saying Meyers has never been to prison for past offenses, Youash said Meyers has had “break after break.”

But in asking Meyers get a seven-year prison term, defense attorney George Kililis told the judge of the “excessive hardship” in Meyers’ upbringing, including growing up in an unhappy home with an alcoholic father who died from his disease. He said Meyers’ story is “a very painful, a very human story.”

“We are all shaped by our experiences,” Kililis said. “His environment shaped his life in profound ways and lead to his addiction. He’s had a lifelong struggle with alcohol.”

Kililis said this has been a “wakeup call” and Meyers’ time spent in the county jail “has had an effect on him. He has come to grips with who he is as a human being [and] with his alcoholism.”

Meyers has been in custody of the county jail since Dec. 22, 2023, and has participated in recovery and self-improvement programs and attended church, Kililis and supporters of Meyers in the courtroom said. The attorney also said Meyers is a father of two children himself and “regrets there were two children in the car.”

Meyers ex-wife, Nancy Meyers, said she has known him 40 years and was married to him for 24 years. Despite being divorced, they remain best friends. She asked he be sentenced to a work program and described him as hardworking, generous and a good father to their two children. He had stopped drinking “completely” in 2022 and he would say how good he felt and how happy he was, and the relationship with his children was good, she said.

“He said he loved being sober and never wanted to drink again,” she said. So when she got the call he had been charged with the DUI, she “was blown away.”

“He went from 100% to rock bottom,” Meyers said. She also thanked the judge for detaining him in jail since his arrest. She said she could see and hear the changes in him “even more than in 2022.” Meyers has told her he is a “changed man” and will no longer “take anything for granted, like fresh air,” she said.

Prosecutors said that at 10:30 p.m. April 28, 2023, Meyers was driving drunk while on his way home from a Lake in the Hills restaurant when police made a traffic stop. At the time, his driving privileges were suspended and he was traveling with two teenaged children, according to the indictment filed in the McHenry County court.

The officer observed Meyers driving erratically, using traffic lanes improperly and speeding, according to trial testimony. He was driving 70 mph in a 40 mph zone, according to information on file, and refused to take a field sobriety tests, authorities said.