The appellate court in Ottawa is figuring out whether prosecutors mishandled an involuntary manslaughter case so severely the defendant can’t get a fair retrial. Forty-seven year old Mason Shannon of Iowa had been convicted of choking an Ottawa man to death in 2017 during a fight at a business northeast of the city. Allegations of several problems in how the case was handled led to the conviction being thrown out. The charge remained with the case put back in pre-trial status. Shannon’s defense team wants the charge dismissed too. Three justices heard the appeal in a hearing held via Zoom Tuesday.
One issue now is former State’s Attorney Karen Donnelly taking notes during an interview instead of waiting for an investigator to arrive. And there’s a question of whether an assistant prosecutor edited a forensic examiner’s report on the victim’s death without the expert approving. Shannon’s lawyer, Katie Krysan, says the prosecutors could be called to testify about those things and a jury would be naturally inclined to believe them more than other witnesses. Those prosecutors withdrew from the case after acknowledging problems. Special prosecutors were brought in, but Krysan says her client would still have an unfair burden to overcome. And Krysan says there are reasons prosecutors aren’t supposed to be witnesses.
This is important in settling a double jeopardy question. A circuit court judge found that the original jeopardy condition never ended, therefore Shannon isn’t facing jeopardy again. If he were, it would be a violation of his rights. Continuing to prosecute a person isn’t considered double jeopardy after a mistrial, a hung jury, or trial court error. Krysan says none of those exceptions apply in Shannon’s case. She says it’s instead a case of prosecutor misconduct so disturbing the court should be offended.
On the other side, Assistant Attorney General Erin O’Connell argued that there was no prosecutor misconduct that would have led to a mistrial. She said other requested remedies through which Shannon could still gain advantages will be dealt with in the circuit court if the appellate court upholds the ruling leaving the charge in place. Justices Mary K. O’Brien, Daniel Schmidt, and William Holdridge could give their opinion in weeks or months.
At trial, the question on which Shannon’s guilt or innocence hinged was what caused 32-year old Michael Castelli’s death. If he died because Shannon put him in a choke hold longer than necessary to defend himself, Shannon is guilty. But if Castelli died minutes later because of heart problems agitated in the struggle, Shannon is not guilty. Shannon was never sentenced and has been free on bond during most of the nearly five-year old case.
Correction: We have corrected the spelling of Katie Krysan’s last name.