Trial set for man accused of attacking sleeping Naperville couple
The Naperville teen accused of trying to kill the parents of a girl who called him "ugly" in 2015 will have his day in court this summer.
DuPage County Judge Liam Brennan set Aug. 14 for Zachary Machnikowski to be tried on two counts of first-degree attempted murder. Brennan, however, also suppressed all four statements Machnikowski gave to Naperville police, preventing them from being mentioned at trial.
In his motion to have the statements barred, defense attorney Jay Fuller said Machnikowski was "intoxicated, sleep-deprived and suffering from a hand injury" during several hours of interrogation and questioning at both police headquarters and Edward Hospital in Naperville.
Fuller said Machnikowski asked for his lawyer several times during the questioning and was denied.
In Brennan's nine-page written ruling, he said Machnikowski did not appear to be intoxicated or sleep deprived.
Brennan did, however, accuse Naperville officers three times of "steamrolling past the defendant's attempts to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights" by repeatedly ignoring Machnikowski's statements that he did not want to answer their questions and wanted to talk to an attorney.
Prosecutors said Machnikowski broke into the home of William and Mary Lenk on the 900 block of Iroquois Avenue and repeatedly stabbed them around 1:25 a.m. on March 31, 2015. He also is charged with home invasion and residential burglary.
Authorities said Machnikowski believed the couple's daughter, who police said sneaked out of her house to attend a party, told another person at the gathering she thought Machnikowski was ugly. Authorities said he became angry, left the party, entered the Lenks' home through an unlocked rear door, and attacked the girl's parents.
Police said Machnikowski told them he entered the home planning to steal liquor, but instead stabbed the girl's parents as a way to hurt her the way he said her comments hurt him.
The Lenks survived after being treated at Edward Hospital for as many as eight stab wounds each to the head and chest area.
Machnikowski has been held without bail since his arrest the night of the stabbings.