Palatine murder trial to begin today

The night her friend of two decades was murdered, Diana Thames was in the Palatine condominium with her.

But when Thames stands trial this week for the brutal stabbing of Cindy Wolosick, her attorneys will argue there's nothing to prove she wielded the deadly knife.

"She spent the night there, no question," attorney Kathleen Zellner said. "But … there is no evidence that she participated in the crime."

In earlier hearings, prosecutors have hinted otherwise.

Lawyers today are set to select members of the jury that will determine Thames' fate -- though Zellner said Friday it's possible the case could forge ahead as a bench trial instead, with the judge alone deciding the verdict.

Much of the case may boil down to forensic evidence.

Thames' confession to the killing was caught on video -- one of the first tests of a state law requiring such documentation in murder cases, but a judge in August agreed with defense complaints about the taping and barred most of her statements from being played at trial.

Thames, 50, of downstate Bloomington, has spent more than two years in jail since the Aug. 12, 2005, morning she says she simply awoke to find Wolosick's bloody body in the master bedroom's bed.

At that point, she has said, she called 911, vomited and tried to wipe her friend's face.

Prosecutors allege a different sequence of events, saying Thames used a kitchen knife to stab Wolosick about 20 times in the head, neck and chest after the two returned from a Mexican vacation.

Wolosick was an elementary school educator who also co-owned a home rehab business with Thames.

The attack, prosecutors say, followed an argument over finances of the duo's business.

Prosecutors say Thames had cuts on her hands, and have said an acrylic nail was found at the murder scene.

Thames was missing a nail.

Thames -- under duress from hours of interrogation, Zellner has argued -- eventually confessed to the crime.

Though she originally told police she'd heard Wolosick's door buzzer, followed by a man's voice, in the middle of the night, Thames said she later changed her story, telling police she killed her longtime friend in self-defense, prosecutors say.

Officials say Thames said a police acquaintance told her she'd face a lesser penalty that way.

Cook County Judge John Scotillo's August decision to toss the videotaped confession means much of what Thames said to police can't be played in court. Scotillo banned all that she said after she requested a lawyer.

That decision came despite prosecutors' insistence that Thames had waived her right to an attorney and willingly initiated talks with police.

Police also said they never coerced her into confessing.

Zellner has declined to say whether Thames will take the stand in her own defense. Officials with the Cook County state's attorney's office said they couldn't comment on the nature of the prosecution's witness list.

Wolosick, 46, was a speech and language pathologist at Lake Louise Elementary in Palatine. She'd been there 21 years, coworkers said.

Thames and Wolosick met as students at Illinois State University. In 2002, the duo opened Thames and Wolosick, L.L.C., in Bloomington, according to records from the Illinois Secretary of State.

Wolosick's mother, Louise, said after her daughter's death that the family had been wary of the two pursuing their joint business venture, but she didn't explain those concerns further.

She also told the Daily Herald that, before her death, Wolosick had told her that Thames' business practices were damaging her credit and that she planned to talk to her about it. But the two, Louise Wolosick added, had been "really good friends."

Prior to her 2005 murder arrest, Thames had served a 90-day jail sentence for a 2000 drug conviction in McLean County, officials have said.