YORKVILLE – An Aurora man will still be subject to a reckless homicide charge in connection with the hit-and-run death of Oswego High School softball coach Amanda Stanton and was found in violation of the terms of his release, according to a Kendall County judge.

Kendall County Chief Judge Robert Pilmer ruled in court Thursday, Dec. 26 afternoon on multiple motions in the case, including the defense's request to drop the reckless homicide charge, an alleged bond violation, and motions in limine, or requests for certain testimony or evidence to be excluded from the trial.

Prosecutors allege Nehemiah Williams was driving on Plainfield Road near Plainsman Court in rural Oswego Township on June 24, 2018 when he killed Stanton, who was 26 years old when she died, in a hit and run crash. Stanton, who was the head softball coach at OHS and a math intervention specialist at Jefferson Junior High School in Naperville, was walking along the side of the road.

Dawn Projansky, Williams's attorney, said she doesn't believe there's enough to warrant the charge and there needs to be more than one reckless act listed. She said Williams not wearing corrective lenses while driving would only be a single act of negligence and that she doesn't agree with driving at night and driving on unfamiliar roads being classified as reckless behavior, since people do so daily.

"Mr. Williams, at best, violated a restriction on his driver's license – it's a single violation of the law," Projansky said. "There's no additional purposeful actions by Mr. Williams that are reckless and negligence is certainly not a basis for a reckless homicide complaint."

Mark Shlifka, first assistant state's attorney for Kendall County, said there doesn't need to be multiple acts to be performed for a reckless homicide charge. He said combining the act of driving and recklessness is enough to warrant the charge.

"Here's a great analogy: A person wants to practice driving their car backwards in an abandoned shopping mall parking lot. That's probably not a bad idea," Shlifka said. "In a crowded ... school playground? Not so wise. One reckless act, that would probably be reckless homicide, if you backed up into some child and killed that person."

Pilmer said state law might have used the word "acts" poorly and there is unfortunately not a lot of clear guidance court precedence-wise. Looking at jury instructions in some related cases and an offense being committed, he said, he will deny Willams's council's motion to drop the reckless homicide charge.

Williams was arrested on charges related to the hit and run incident on June 27, 2018. He posted $15,000 bail, with bond being $150,000. He was subsequently released from the Kendall County jail in Yorkville Oct. 5, 2018.

Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis also said Williams, who has a GPS monitor attached to him as part of his bond terms, violated the terms of his bond after the office was notified that the monitor's batteries were dead from about 3:16 a.m. until 3:48 a.m. on Dec. 8. He said law enforcement was able to verify that Williams was still at his home during the time his GPS monitor was dead, but it was still technically a violation of a bond condition.

Projansky said Williams was sound asleep when the battery level of the monitor was critically low. All of the sudden, she said, the battery life of Williams's equipment was getting shorter and shorter where he had to charge the unit while he was still asleep, and the charging cord fell off of the monitor while he was sleeping on this particular day.

Projansky said Williams has since replaced the unit with no further issues and has had no prior problems adhering to his bond terms.

"It was just that the equipment has seen its day," Projansky said. "I mean, it was over a year old."

If that was indeed the case, Weis said in response, it was on Williams to notify court officials of those concerns about the equipment and to be more proactive before getting to that point.

"Is this the most egregious violation? No, no, it's not – I'm not going to stand there and argue it's the most egregious violation," Weis said. "But it is a condition of his bond, and there is not one [condition] that is more important than the other."

Pilmer ruled that Williams violated his pretrial supervision terms and agreed that it was his responsibility to report those equipment issues.

"However, as to any increase in bond or revocation of bond, I'm not going to take that step today," Pilmer said. "So that part of the motion will be denied."

Williams has pleaded not guilty to failing to report an accident involving a death, reckless homicide and driving with a revoked or suspended license. Those charges are Class 1, 3 and 4 felonies, respectively.

If convicted, Williams could face up to 15 years in prison for the charge of failure to report an accident involving a death.

Pilmer granted all filed motions in limine from plaintiff and defense council. The case will be due back in court 1 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Kendall County courthouse, 807 W. John St., and the trial dates for the case are still set for the following week.