New trial date set for man charged in Wilson killings

SYCAMORE – Almost five years after his arrest, a postponed trial and other court delays, an Ohio man accused of beating to death an elderly Sycamore mother and her son has a new trial date.

Jonathan Hurst’s double-murder jury trial was set to convene June 24, more than four years after his February 2020 arrest and almost eight years since Patricia A. Wilson, 85, and Robert J. Wilson, 64, were found bludgeoned to death inside their home at 16058 Old State Road on Aug. 15, 2016. It was delayed after his defense team asked for more time in early June.

Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick has set a new date for Hurst’s trial, which is expected to begin Jan. 21, DeKalb County court records show.

A final pretrial hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 15.

Hurst is charged with 12 counts of first-degree murder, home invasion, residential burglary, criminal trespass to a residence and unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

If convicted of both killings, Hurst faces a life sentence. The trial was continued at the request of Hurst’s defense lawyer, Charles Criswell of the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office, who told Buick that he wasn’t ready to make his arguments before a jury. Criswell has represented Hurst since June 2022, court records show.

Prosecutors with the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office have argued that they’re ready for trial, and previously said they handed over most of the evidence – 11,000 pages of records and 180 disks – to Hurst’s defense team years ago.

DNA is expected to play a significant role in prosecutors’ arguments at trial.

Prosecutors for years have worked to collect evidence – which they said is voluminous – to prove that Hurst was the one who broke in to the Wilsons’ rural Sycamore home the night of Aug. 14 and killed them. Dozens of witnesses are expected to come forward during a long-anticipated jury trial.

Both Wilsons died of blunt-force head trauma, the DeKalb County Coroner’s Office ruled. Hurst has long denied ever being in Sycamore, although authorities have said that his DNA proves he was.

Members of the Wilson family have attended Hurst’s many hearings since his February 2020 arrest in the hopes of finding out what happened to their loved ones: Patricia, who was an active member of St. John’s Lutheran Church of Sycamore, and Robert, known affectionately as “Smiley,” the president of Sycamore Moose Lodge.