Ryan LeVin, the 34-year-old heir to a costume jewelry empire based in Schaumburg, will remain in a drug treatment program in jail as well as undergo tests for mental fitness and Parkinson’s disease.
The defense team requested the tests during a closed-door meeting with Cook County Judge William O’Brien, but there were no reasons for the examinations given in open court. LeVin attorney David Bogenschutz said the mental and physical tests are “to make sure he is operating on all cylinders.”
The LeVin family has a history of Parkinson’s disease and his lawyers wanted him checked as a preventive measure, Bogenschutz said.
LeVin of Hoffman Estates answered simple questions from the judge but showed no reaction to the order. He will remain in jail until at least May 14.
His father, Arthur, who founded the direct sales behemoth Jewels by Park Lane, was visibly upset about the continued incarceration following the hearing. In a loud voice that could be heard easily in the courthouse hallway, he worried about his son’s health and safety in Cook County Jail. “Do they want him to die?” he asked. “What would you do if this were your son?”
LeVin has been behind bars since Feb. 23, when the judge found he violated terms of his probation for a 2006 car chase in which he ran over a Chicago police officer.
His incarceration came 10 days after his Porsche 911 Turbo struck and killed British businessmen Craig Elford, 39, and Kenneth Watkinson, 48, as they walked to their hotel on Ft. Lauderdale beach.
LeVin implicated a friend as the driver at the time of the early-morning incident, according to court records. Ft. Lauderdale police filed a search warrant to take a DNA sample from the friend, but officers have declined to say whether they were able to locate him.
Bogenschutz, one of South Florida’s top defense attorneys, said LeVin has not given a DNA sample in the investigation and will not give one without a court order. “Certainly at this point there is no indication that he’s involved in the accident,” he said. “In fact, the evidence is pointing elsewhere.”
Police have declined to comment on the investigation.
