Rural Ottawa manslaughter case might go back to trial

The rural Ottawa manslaughter case might be going back to trial. A judge declined Thursday to throw out suspect Mason Shannon’s charges and ruled that there’s no constitutional roadblock to a redo trial.

Shannon does not yet have a new trial setting. His lawyers told Judge William Dickenson that they plan to file a motion to reconsider, and Dickenson won’t settle that matter until a hearing set for 2 p.m. April 8. Assuming Dickenson stands firm, the next step would be to send Shannon back to La Salle County for a new trial.

Shannon, 46, of Newton, Iowa, remains under indictment for involuntary manslaughter for allegedly placing Ottawa resident Michael Castelli in a neck restraint, which resulted in Castelli’s death, during a struggle outside the Bonnie Plants growing facility.

Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. found Shannon guilty at a bench trial, but Shannon’s lawyers argued that Ryan committed a conflict of interest by letting wife Kala serve as court reporter at Ryan’s trial. Dickenson agreed and voided Shannon’s conviction.

But then Shannon’s lawyers argued that making Shannon trial again would be double jeopardy; the U.S. Constitution prohibits someone from being tried twice for the same crime. Here, Dickenson disagreed.

In a sprawling ruling, Dickenson shot down Shannon’s claims point by point and said double jeopardy protections do not apply in his case.

Dickenson said the case law was clear: Double jeopardy applies only when a prosecutor goads a defendant into seeking a mistrial, which didn’t happen at Shannon’s trial. As for judicial overreach, Dickenson ruled that “there is no indication of bias or prejudice displayed by Judge Ryan.”

Shannon could, if tried and convicted again, face two to five years in prison.