A Yorkville man convicted of killing a 10-year-old girl in a 1999 drunken wreck is heading back to prison for a boozy Christmas Day crash.
Glen Ray Higginbotham, 34, was found guilty Thursday of aggravated driving under the influence and aggravated driving with a revoked license by Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak.
Higginbotham took a seven-year prison sentence in April 2000 for ramming into a vehicle on State Street near 12th Street in Lockport, killing a 10-year-old girl riding in the back seat.
On the night of the May 1999 crash, a county deputy clocked Higginbotham driving faster than 80 mph just moments before the collision. The girl who was killed, Candace Graham, was not wearing a seat belt. Candace's mother, Constance Graham, was making a legal left turn when Higginbotham's speeding car plowed into her vehicle.
Constance Graham admitted to drinking tequila and beer for hours before the crash. Her blood-alcohol content was .197 percent. A blood draw showed Higginbotham's blood-alcohol content was at .2 percent and that he also had cocaine in his system.
Constance Graham was placed on court supervision after pleading guilty to one count of misdemeanor drunken driving.
In his latest drunken crash, Higginbotham ran into a Cadillac on New Lenox Road near Oakview Avenue in unincorporated Joliet on Christmas.
The driver of the Cadillac, 21-year-old Danzel Mitchell of Joliet, was injured in the crash. Higginbotham was charged with attempting to flee the scene of the accident. If he was trying to get away, he likely failed to make it very far as at least two of the wheels were coming off his pickup truck.
Higginbotham's attorney, Alonzo Zahour, was given permission to argue for a new trial on Dec. 6.
