The courtroom in the Jackson County Sheriff's department fell silent as Timothy Krajcir, in handcuffs, was escorted into the room.
Krajcir, with his defense attorney, Patricia Gross, stood before a judge Friday in his preliminary hearing. Krajcir, 62, has been charged with four counts of murder for the death of Deborah Sheppard. Sheppard was enrolled at SIUC when she was found dead in her apartment in 1982.
Gross entered a tentative plea of not guilty to the judge. The pre-trial date is set for Nov. 13, at 8:30 a.m., where Krajcir will appear before the judge with his legal council and enter a plea. The judge will decide if a bench trial or a jury trail will proceed, unless a plea of guilty is entered. Also, plea negations could begin at this time.
If a plea agreement is not reached, Krajcir is scheduled to stand trial on Dec. 10.
No further information about the evidence against Krajcir was released at the hearing because Krajcir choose to waive his preliminary hearing.
Before the hearing, Lt. Paul Echols of the Carbondale Police said, "Between now and then they will either negotiate a plea or it will go to trial then I will testify. If he pleas out then a lot of this information will be released by the court because the state's attorney will read a lot of this information into the record during his plea."
Krajcir's decision to waive the trial is not an admittance of guilt or involvement in the murder case, but it does require him to stand trial for his charges of murder if a plea agreement is not reached.
If Krajcir is convicted of these charges he could face life in prison on account of his felony murder charge, said State's Attorney Michael Wepsiec before the hearing.
"Felony murder is if you're committing a forceful felony and a death results," Wepsiec said before the hearing.
Also in attendance at the hearing was Sheppard's family, including both of her parents.
Echols began to contact the Sheppards' around May of this year in order to relay to her father the progress that had been made with his daughter's case, Echols said.
"There were some efforts made both forensically and interviews that were conducted that were directly related to the case," he said. "I think it's the first time they (the Sheppards) have been back in 25 years."
Katie Kienast can be reached at 536-3311 ex 262 or kkienast@siu.edu.
