The jury trial has been delayed until April for an Aurora man charged with kidnapping and murder following a 2016 fight on the city’s East Side.
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Anthony Bills, 40, of the 700 block of Fifth Avenue, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of mob action for his alleged role in the death of Clarence King, 18, of the first block of North Sumner Street.
His trial had been scheduled to start Monday, but in mid-January, prosecutors asked to delay it because Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Greg Sams is the lead prosecutor for both Bills and Scott Turyna, whose attempted murder trial concluded Friday. In their motion, which Kane County Circuit Judge John A. Barsanti granted, prosecutors stated Turyna’s case appeared that it would exceed a week of trial, therefore going into this week. They also noted that Bills had not demanded a speedy trial.
“Even if for some reason that case ends on that first week, it would leave … Sams with insufficient trial preparation time,” states the motion, signed by Sams.
Bills, who has pleaded not guilty, is now next due in court April 26 with his trial set to begin April 30 before Barsanti at the county judicial center in St. Charles. He remains in Kane County jail, where he was booked on other charges in July 2017, with bail at more than $5 million.
Bills says he has an alibi, with at least three witnesses including a woman identified in other court documents as his wife, according to a notice of affirmative defense filed in October.
On July 15, 2016, Aurora police went to break up a large fight they said was likely gang-related outside the Maple Terrace apartments, an Aurora Housing Authority property on the 900 block of Second Avenue.
By the time officers got to Maple Terrace about 8:30 p.m., people were running and driving away, according to reports. Bills’ stepson noticed his car — a maroon Pontiac documented at the fight — was missing.
Bills’ stepson and a group trying to get his car back found King, who said he didn’t know where it was. The group brought King to Bills’ Aurora home, where they beat him, according to a search warrant affidavit. The affidavit states Bills told others to put King inside the trunk of a white Lincoln.
When the Lincoln pulled up on the 4500 block of West End Avenue in Chicago’s West Garfield Park, people inside got out and confronted King who was still in the trunk, police said in the affidavit. According to police, the people put a sock in King’s mouth to quiet him, beat him again, and left him on the ground. King was later pronounced dead.
In late July 2016, Bills was charged with mob action in connection with the fight. He was in jail on those charges when murder and kidnapping charges were filed last March.
Twitter @hannahmleone