A St. Clair County man is headed to trial, having his case bound over to the circuit court from district court this past week.
Gregory Ringel is accused of attempting to kill his wife this past March and of making up a story to cover up his actions to police. He was before District Judge Michael Hulewicz this week for his preliminary examination, which started on Monday the 11th. Yesterday, July 14, a charge for tampering with evidence was added against him, bringing the total up to six charges. He also faces a charge of assault with intent to murder, two counts of felony firearm, false report of a felony, and discharging a firearm in a building.
St. Clair County Sheriff deputies had responded around 3:00 a.m. on the night in question. At the time, it was believed that a person entered the home with the shotgun, coming through the garage and through the kitchen before knocking over a steel tumbler, which woke up Ringel’s wife. Leaving her bed to investigate, she was met by a man at the bedroom doorway, quickly and luckily shutting the door on the gun’s barrel and blocking the man’s entry. Ringel claimed that he had been asleep in another room, but upon waking up from the disturbance, he gave chase with a handgun from his bedside table, allegedly shooting in the direction of the fleeing intruder before calling police.
St. Clair police noticed inconsistencies in Ringel’s story, as well as an ongoing affair with a former coworker, and it didn’t take long for Ringel to admit in interview that he made up the story and that he had attempted to get into his wife’s bedroom to shoot her with a single-shot, 12-gauge shotgun.
Ringel can now either plead guilty to the charges, go through with trial, or wait for potential plea deal offers from prosecutors.
