Serial Drunk Driver Pleads Guilty In Death Of 12-Year-Old Girl

SUMPTER TOWNSHIP (WWJ) - A 49-year-old man with a dozen drunken-driving convictions has pleaded guilty to causing the death of a 12-year-old girl.

Charles Cahill, who hasn't had a driver's license since 1990, pleaded guilty Tuesday, as charged, to second degree murder, operating with a high blood alcohol content causing death, operating with a suspended license causing death, operating under the influence of liquor – third offense, and open intoxicants in vehicle.

Victoria Mack died in July, three days after the van she was in was rear-ended by Cahill's vehicle on Martinsville Road near Willis Road in Sumpter Township. Investigators say Cahill's blood alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit.

Cahill was driving with an open container of alcohol in the car, according to police, and had been involved with a domestic issue just before the accident.

Cahill is due back in court for sentencing on January 13.

Many of Cahill's convictions came after he lost his license in 1990. In 2011, he was released from prison after three years – two years short of his maximum sentence. The Belleville man was also sent to prison in 1997. His first drunken-driving offense was in 1986.