Girlfriend recants story of Valentine's Day attack
Prosecutors trying a 31-year-old Lombard man for a Valentine's Day attack on his pregnant girlfriend found an uncooperative witness in their victim.
Turkessa Peters admitted to authoring a three-page recount of the attack, but told prosecutors Tuesday she only testified before a grand jury because "you guys kept threatening me with being held in contempt of court."
She was the only witness called during the first day of Ronald Bosley's trial.
Bosley is accused of breaking into Peters' Lombard apartment just before 7 p.m. Feb. 14 and pointing a gun at her head. Prosecutors said the couple had been fighting after Bosley accused of Peters of cheating on him. They said a drunken Bosley broke into the apartment after Peters stopped picking up his calls and waved around the gun demanding to know who else was in the apartment with Peters.
When Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Michael Fisher attempted to jog her memory of the testimony she gave at a grand jury hearing months ago by reading the transcript of her answers, she kept saying she had no recollection of the testimony.
"Are you suffering from amnesia?" Fisher asked.
"I could be, I don't know," Peters responded.
DuPage County Circuit Court Judge John Kinsella scheduled a public defender to meet with Peters about her testimony Wednesday morning because he's concerned prosecutors will eventually charge her with perjury. She has yet to be cross-examined by Bosley's lawyers.
Peters was slapped with a $25,000 recognizance bond recently when she failed to appear at the start of Bosley's previously scheduled trial date earlier this month. When asked if she wanted to be in court testifying against the father of her two-month-old son, Peters said, "No, I didn't."
During opening arguments, prosecutors warned the jury Peters would likely be uncooperative because of her relationship with Bosley. Assistant Public Defender Kristen Thomas called Peters a "liar" who's story hasn't been consistent once. However, the written statement she provided police the day of the attack on Valentine's Day this year is almost identical to her testimony before the grand jury. Thomas told jurors that Peters wanted to get her boyfriend in trouble for getting drunk and not getting her anything for Valentine's Day.
Prosecutors said Bosley tore the phones out of the walls at the apartment, but after calming down allowed Peters to call her parents while he tried to fix the door frame he had damaged. It was Peters' parents who called police.
When police arrived they located Bosley on the nearby Great Western Trail, but he attempted to flee. He was caught and a handgun he later admitted was his was also recovered from the trail.
Testimony is expected to resume Wednesday morning as prosecutors call three Lombard police officers to the stand to recount the events they witnessed that evening.