LaSalle County State’s Attorney Karen Donnelly and others on her staff could end up testifying for the defense in the involuntary manslaughter case against 45-year old Mason Shannon of Iowa. The State’s Attorney’s Office recused itself from the prosecution last week. A court filing explains why. In the document, prosecutors acknowledge several problems with the way they handled the investigation into 32-year old Michael Castelli’s death northeast of Ottawa in 2017.
The problems have angered Shannon’s defense team. The judge currently presiding over the case said there’s been a lot of sloppiness on the state’s part and attorneys are taught to do better work. After detailing the problems, the prosecution says the best course is getting out of the case and turning it over to a special prosecutor.
Two out-of county judges have found no reason to believe that Judge H. Chris Ryan had a profit motive to convict Shannon in 2018. However, the defense still asserts that it was improper for the judge’s wife to be the court reporter because she could make more money selling transcripts to a defendant who needs them to appeal the outcome. The defense also asserts that the State’s Attorney’s Office has been complicit in the alleged conflict. The prosecutors’ filing says the State’s Attorney could have to defend the judge’s actions if the defense persists in claiming overreach and misconduct.
Defenders Paul DeLuca and Doug DeBoer intend to call Donnelly to testify. A letter from DeLuca to First Asst. St. Atty. George Mueller and Asst. St. Atty. Greg Sticka doesn’t say what Donnelly would be asked. The prosecutors’ motion looks at a few possibilities.
Witness James Clouse wasn’t recorded and the sheriff’s department investigator working on the case wasn’t present when he told prosecutors what he saw the night Castelli died. Shannon’s defense believes Clouse can testify about just when Castelli was conscious or breathing. That could conflict with forensic pathologist Valerie Arangelovich’s testimony about how long Castelli was denied oxygen before he succumbed to asphyxiation. While Donnelly didn’t think Clouse’s testimony was helpful to either side before, she now wants to let Clouse testify to avoid an issue on appeal. And she believes she could be called to testify about the circumstances of Clouse’s talk with her and her staff.
There’s also the matter of a State’s Attorney’s Office employee summarizing what Dr. Arangelovich said during a telephone call about her findings on Castelli’s death. The doctor didn’t write the summary herself. Instead, she edited the prosecution’s draft, removing “not consistent with ‘excited delirium’” and “not consistent with cardiac arrest”. According to the prosecution, removing those words doesn’t mean Arangelovich thinks excited delirium (drug induced agitation during which the heart may suddenly stop) and cardiac arrest contributed to or caused Castelli’s death. But the defense could want to ask Arangelovich and prosecutors about the redaction. Donnelly and staff now realize the draft should have been given to DeLuca and DeBoer under long standing rules for sharing evidence.
DeLuca and DeBoer say Donnelly’s office violated rules rooted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brady v. Maryland decision of 1963. The high court ruled that the prosecution must turn over evidence favorable to the defense on the issues of guilt and punishment. The evidence Shannon’s defense believes it should have received before could refute the finding that Shannon’s chokehold cause Castelli’s death. DeBoer said in court last week, he didn’t know until the filing last Wednesday that someone—he said Sticka—wrote the summary for Arangelovich. DeBoer called the failure to disclose that the biggest Brady violation he’s ever seen.
The defense has also claimed the investigation and prosecution were guided by an anti-gay bias, something Donnelly has denied ever since it came up. Shannon’s sexual orientation didn’t come up during the trial. The recusal motion indicates the claim is still dogging the prosecutors.
In its final paragraphs, the prosecution’s statement says the most important thing “is that Mason Shannon gets a fair trial and that, whatever the result, there is closure for the defendant and family of the victim.” Judge Dickenson is now asking the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to provide a prosecutor who can take over for Donnelly. He plans to give his progress report in court on August 13.