On Thursday, a McHenry County judge denied a request seeking to reduce the 31-year prison term of a man he found guilty but mentally ill of first-degree murder in causing a head-on crash near Hebron.

William Bishop, 44, lived in Chicago on May 18, 2020, when in the midst of a psychotic episode, hearing voices, hallucinating and under the influence of marijuana, he drove out to McHenry County, according to testimony heard last year in a bench trial before Judge Michael Coppedge.

During that drive, voices told Bishop to kill himself, prompting him to speed up and cross his Jeep over the center line of rural Vanderkarr Road and crash into an oncoming work van, according to trial testimony.

But instead of killing himself, Bishop killed the driver of the van, Jason Miller, 41, of McHenry, and seriously injured his passenger, Rory Fiali, 58, also of McHenry, according to trial testimony.

Coppedge found Bishop guilty and in December, denied a motion to reconsider the conviction.

In January, Coppedge sentenced Bishop to 24 years in prison for the first-degree murder and seven years in for aggravated driving under the influence for causing Fiali’s life-changing injuries.

The DUI could carried a possible sentence of probation, which is what Bishop’s attorney, Robert Deters, argued for in his motion asking Coppedge to reconsider the sentence.

Deters said Bishop should be released on probation after serving his 24 year prison sentence for Miller’s death. He said it would be better for him and the public because he would have the benefit of support from his family to help maintain his mental health and substance-use issues.

While out on bond awaiting trial, Bishop was able to stay mentally healthy and sober because he had structure from his family, Deters said.

When he is released from prison, he likely will not have that and his life “will look far different than today,” Deters said.

“We believe there were extraordinary circumstances at the time of the offense,” Deters said. “The extraordinary circumstances that led to this event were extra themselves.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Romito asked Coppedge to deny the motion and said with the “human carnage” endured in this case, probation “would not be appropriate.”

We believe there were extraordinary circumstances at the time of the offense.

—  Robert Deters, defense attorney

“He was on notice since 2013 (that he had a mental illness), he knew he was intoxicated and he chose to get behind the wheel,” she said. “You did impose a fair and just sentence.”

In denying the motion, Coppedge said the sentence must take into account the impact of the offense and he felt the sentence he imposed in January was “just and fair.”

“The nature and severity of the physical and cognitive injuries to Mr. Fiali were and are profound,” Coppedge said.