No increased bail for woman charged in murder-for-hire
A DuPage County judge Thursday denied prosecutors' attempts to increase the bail for a 31-year-old nurse accused of paying a dark-web hitman to have her lover's wife killed.
Prosecutors filed a petition to revoke Tina Jones' $250,000 bail, claiming a court-ordered drug test showed traces of opioids.
However, Jones' attorney, Stephen Hall, suggested the failed test may have been the result of some Nyquil she had taken.
Shortly after the failed test, he said, Jones submitted to hair follicle and urine testing, both of which were free of illegal substances.
"My client has never done drugs in her life," Hall said outside of court.
Jones, 31, formerly of the 700 block of River Road in Des Plaines, is charged with four counts of solicitation of murder for hire, two counts of solicitation of murder and attempted first-degree murder.
All charges against Jones are Class X felonies, meaning she will not be eligible for probation if found guilty. She faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious offense.
Prosecutors say Jones paid more than $10,000 in bitcoin to the company in January to kill a Woodridge woman who works as a clinical social worker in Naperville.
The Cosa Nostra International Network, however, was deemed to be a scam. The CBS program "48 Hours" discovered the contract between Jones and the website while researching another story and alerted Woodridge police, authorities said.
In her "kill order," officials said Jones gave the hitman clear instructions to make sure her lover was unharmed and provided a schedule for when he would be at work and when the woman would be alone. She also said to make it look like an accident.
Jones was a registered nurse at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood at the time of her arrest.
The victim's husband is a practicing anesthesiologist who completed his residency at Loyola and is still based in Maywood.
Jones's next court date is scheduled for Oct. 25, at which point Judge George Bakalis will rule on whether she violated her probation by failing a drug test. She also was ordered to submit to a new test Thursday before she left the building.