Jury selection enters second day for Wilson double murder trial in Sycamore

SYCAMORE – Jury selection entered its second day Wednesday ahead of the expected double murder trial for Jonathan Hurst, charged in the 2016 slayings of Sycamore elderly mother and son Patricia and Robert Wilson.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Hurst, 55, formerly of Chicago and Cincinnati, Ohio, could face a life sentence. He’s been held without release in DeKalb County Jail in Sycamore for almost five years since his February 2020 arrest.

DeKalb County State’s Attorney Riley Oncken told Shaw Local Wednesday morning that half the 12-person jury still needed selecting. Prosecutors, Hurst’s defense team and Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick were expected to take up proceedings again at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to choose the six other jurors and four alternate jurors needed before the trial can convene. Buick earlier this month said “unique considerations,” were needed for jury selection in the high-profile case.

It’s day two of what could be lengthy proceedings before the possibility of a verdict in a case that has hung over the Sycamore community for nearly a decade.

It’s been almost eight years for family and loved ones since Patricia A. Wilson, 85, and Robert J. Wilson, 64, were found beaten to death inside their home at 16058 Old State Road. Delays, the coronavirus pandemic and attorney changes have littered the past four years of pretrial hearings as prosecutors seek to prove to a 12-person jury that Hurst was the one responsible for the Wilson’s gruesome deaths.

Multiple Wilson family members are expected to be among the almost 50 witnesses prosecutors have planned to call during trial, court records show. Two people named Hurst also appear on a prepared witness list filed by lead defense attorney, Chip Criswell of the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office, records show: Craig Hurst, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Laura Hurst, of Texas. Records did not specify their relation to Hurst.

Hurst initially faced 16 charges, including 12 counts of first-degree murder, and one count each of home invasion, residential burglary, criminal trespass to residence and possession of a stolen vehicle. Instead, prosecutors have singled out five counts to argue in trial: four counts of first-degree murder and home invasion.

Hurst pleaded not guilty and has denied ever being in Sycamore. Police and prosecutors have said they have evidence to show he was, according to court records. Authorities pointed to DNA samples collected from the Wilson home and cellphone geomapping data that allegedly puts Hurst’s cellphone in the area at the time of the killings. Patricia Wilson’s missing car was found near where Hurst used to live in Chicago nine days after the killings, police have said.

It’s not yet known if Hurst will testify in his own defense.

The trial could last until the end of January, possibly later depending on testimonies and cross examinations, assistant state’s attorney Scott Schwertley said.