Douglas County prosecutors are negotiating a plea bargain with a Lawrence apartment owner charged two years ago with spying on tenants through peepholes.

William J. Lemesany, 49, was scheduled to be tried today on 10 counts of eavesdropping. The alleged victims lived in the Parkway Terrace Apartments, 2340 Murphy Drive. Charges were filed Oct. 6, 2000.

Douglas County Assistant Dist. Atty. Trent Krug said plea discussions took place Tuesday with Lemesany, but no agreement was reached.

“We haven’t finalized anything, but I think this will resolve itself short of a trial,” Krug said Tuesday.

Lemesany and his attorney, Mike Riling, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Judge Jack Murphy continued the trial to 9 a.m. Aug. 12.

Krug declined to discuss specifics of the negotiations. He said he was staying in contact with the victims in the case. Several of the 10 victims were Kansas University female students. Many of them moved away but were to return to testify, Krug said.

One of the victims, Val Bauman, who still lives in Lawrence, said she didn’t necessarily oppose a plea bargain.

“I just think he should go to jail for a long time,” she said.

Police began an investigation in January 1999 after a female resident at Parkway Terrace discovered a peephole in the wall of her bedroom.

Other tenants began checking their apartment walls, and additional peepholes were found. According to court documents, the peepholes were in walls that separated interior apartment rooms from maintenance hallways. Police found evidence that someone had been looking through the peepholes to spy on tenants.

Lemesany’s trial has been continued several times. In March Murphy granted a request to continue the trial to today to allow additional study of DNA evidence by the defense.

Numerous civil suits related to the peepholes are pending.