Curfew imposed for St. Charles man charged with trying to kill his wife
A judge imposed additional bond conditions, such as a curfew, Thursday on a St. Charles man accused of a May 2016 attempted murder of his now ex-wife.
Because of budget woes, Kane County will not continue GPS monitoring defendants in 2018, and Scott Turyna's ex-wife fears for her safety.
Turyna is set to go on trial Jan. 29 on charges he severely beat her and fired up to five shots at her outside their St. Charles house in May 2016. St. Charles District 303 school board President Steven Spurling, who was in the area with his wife walking their dog, disarmed Turyna and held him until police arrived.
Turyna, 66, has posted $100,000 of his $1 million bail, and his GPS device will be removed Dec. 29 when the county's monitoring program ends.
Prosecutors argued to Judge D.J. Tegeler that Turyna's bond should be increased to ensure the safety of Turyna's ex-wife, who has since moved from St. Charles and keeps her residence a secret.
"Every day we move closer to the trial and the defendant not being on GPS, we move closer to a possible tragedy," argued Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Greg Sams.
Tegeler noted that Turyna has not violated his bond and made every court appearance except for Thursday, when he was hospitalized in the morning at Delnor Hospital in Geneva.
Tegeler said it was an "absolute travesty" GPS was not available for this case, but Turyna is presumed innocent. Tegeler said would be "somewhat punitive" for him to increase Turyna's bail beyond $1 million, and he might post bond anyway.
Instead, Tegeler imposed an 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew, ordered that an alcohol monitoring device Turyna is required to wear also contain a GPS component. That would provide authorities a report on his whereabouts a day later instead of the instant alarm the county's former GPS program had.
Turyna also has an order of protection against him, must call in once a day to court services and is prohibited from living at a location where there are any guns.
He was ordered to report to court when he is released from the hospital, which could happen Friday, so Tegeler can explain the conditions directly to Turyna.