DNA tests ordered in 2010 Gilberts murder

Did Su Won Kil plot to gun down in cold blood a man he took into his Gilberts townhouse after meeting him at an Elgin church?

Or was it a matter of self preservation, as the 43-year-old was fighting for his life after the man attacked him?

On thing that is clear about what happened Aug. 18, 2010 at Kil's townhouse in the 300 block of Evergreen Circle: there was fight.

“I don't think anybody is denying there was a struggle,” said Kil's attorney, Patrick Crimmins. “We're suggesting it was self-defense. The state is suggesting it wasn't.”

Shot at least three times in the altercation was Dae Hae Kwak, a 61-year-old South Korean national who worked as an independent cabdriver and began staying with Kil in late 2010 after he went to the Cornerstone Church in Elgin.

Kil is charged with first-degree murder and if prosecutors can prove he also fired the gun, the former Sherman Hospital information technology manager is looking at a minimum of 45 years in prison.

Crimmins has said Kwak had Tasered his client, who plans to argue self-defense in the case, which could go to trial later this year.

Assistant State's Attorney William Engerman said he could not comment on the case.

But court filings from prosecutors of potential witnesses show that prosecutors might call an expert in the field of blood stains named Jeffrey Gurvis.

“It is obvious that the victim had his back to the window when he was shot for three of the rounds,” Gurvis indicated in a preliminary report, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. “As to the statements made by the defendant, while there seems to be inconsistencies as to his recollection of the positioning during the alleged struggle, based on the bloodstain paths, there is nothing to discredit claims of a struggle. Taking other evidence into consideration, absent positioning, his story seems plausible.”

Kil is free on $35,000 bond and is due in court on March 14.

Wednesday, Crimmins and Engerman agreed to send DNA found at the scene to the state crime lab for analysis.

Crimmins had resisted the move because he would not be able to get a second opinion on the DNA test if needed.

“The sample is so small that once they do the test it will be all gone,” he said. “That's the issue.”