SYCAMORE | Farzana Hosain of Lisle pled guilty Wednesday to the charge of reckless driving that resulted in the July 20 deaths of NIU students Alexander Cameron and Derek Jensen.

Hosain passed a vehicle in a no-passing zone while on Plank Road, colliding with Cameron and Jensen’s vehicle, causing their deaths.

DeKalb County presiding judge Kurt Klein accepted Hosain’s guilty plea. Members of the Cameron and Jensen families also attended the trial. Klein called the incident “horrific” and expressed his sorrow for the losses to the Cameron and Jensen families.

“Words fail me at this time,” Klein said. “I know that the justice system seems woefully inadequate to the family.”

Ron Matekaitis, DeKalb County state’s attorney, said the prosecution charged the defendant based on the gravity of the offense.

“This is all about choices,” Matekaitis said. “If people could understand and process what the results are of those choices, I would hope nobody would make a choice like the defendant in this case did.”

Before the trial, the Cameron and Jensen families met with Hosain in a private session.

“I think it was good for us to have exposed to her the lives of these boys and the effect of their deaths on others,” said Michael Cameron, father of Alexander Cameron.

The trial has not provided complete closure to the tragedy for the families.

“I don’t think that seeing her go through this has made it any easier,” said Lauren Jensen, older sister of Derek Jensen.

Hosain is a doctor who works at a number of hospitals in the area and maintains an office in Hampshire. Reckless driving is a Class A Felony punishable by up to one year in county jail. Hosain negotiated a guilty plea with the state’s attorney’s office.

Instead of one year in county jail, Hosain will have 24 months of probation, which includes refraining from driving a vehicle for 90 days, 500 hours of community service — which must include 48 sessions of speaking publicly about the accident — and a $2,500 fine.

In addition, Hosain must pay more than $33,000 in restitution to the Cameron and Jensen families for funeral costs.

Kenneth Lowe is the Police and Fire Reporter for the Northern Star.