A hearing started Friday into whether to dismiss involuntary manslaughter charges against 46-year old Mason Shannon of Iowa. He’s accused of choking an Ottawa man to death during a fight at Bonnie Plants northeast of Ottawa in 2017.
Shannon’s defense attorney was supposed to argue for dismissing the charges on double jeopardy grounds Friday. But he went a lot into how he feels the case was mishandled—due process issues the judge says must be argued separately from those about unfairly trying someone twice. The prosecutors were ready for the due process hearing. Kankakee County Judge William Dickenson scheduled a new hearing for February 3 to give the Attorney General’s Office time to prepare.
A LaSalle County judge convicted Shannon in 2018, but Shannon got the verdict thrown out after alleging the appearance of impropriety because the court reporter is related to the judge.