July 24--A man accused of killing his new roommate in a Naperville townhouse is seeking a reduced bail, with his attorneys alleging the man acted in self-defense after he was sexually assaulted.
Attorneys for Grant Muren say details of the investigation paint a different picture of the encounter that left Charles Clark dead, and that DuPage County prosecutors misrepresented evidence during Muren's April 2014 bond hearing. Muren's lawyers have filed a motion seeking a new bond hearing.
In response, prosecutors defended their view of the evidence -- that Muren, 23, killed Clark, 55, hours after he moved into Clark's townhouse in January 2014 and after the men had a consensual sexual encounter. They have asked Judge Brian Telander to deny Muren's motion for a new bond hearing.
Muren appeared briefly in court Thursday. His next date is scheduled for Aug. 11.
Muren has been held in lieu of $2 million bail since he was charged with murder in the Jan. 22, 2014, killing of Clark, a self-employed computer technician.
Authorities say Muren answered Clark's online ad seeking a roommate and struck Clark with a piece of furniture and then choked him to death after the men were intimate. Muren then tried to conceal the crime by flooding the residence with gas from the stove and attempting to spark a fire. However, the blaze did not catch, and Clark's body was discovered a day later by his girlfriend, police said.
The townhouse is located in the 1100 block of Vail Court.
In a motion filed in May, Muren attorney Paul DeLuca said that after a more thorough review of evidence, he believes Muren's bail should be reduced.
The motion cited a transcript from Muren's interview with police, in which he contended that Clark sexually assaulted him, and that he struck Clark after the incident to defend himself.
"If I don't stand up for myself and do something soon, I mean, he'd just probably overpower me again later and then I don't know," Muren reportedly told investigators. "I decided I had to stop being a victim."
The motion for new bond hearing says, "The evidence actually strongly suggests a case of self-defense or second-degree murder at the worst."
But prosecutors want to deny a hearing and said in a written response that Muren's attorneys are making "unfounded accusations."
"The defense insinuates that the people somehow intentionally or recklessly misinterpreted the defendant's statements to the Naperville police detectives," prosecutors said in the response. "Nothing could be further from the truth."
Prosecutors also say facts that the defense says are newly discovered were available in April 2014, when Muren had a bail-reduction hearing, and his lawyers did not make the arguments about them at that time.
"The defendant had the opportunity to call any witnesses, including even the defendant at the bond hearing and chose not to," prosecutors said.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
