News

Shawgo trial still set for April

Posted March 04, 2017 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Editor@heraldtrib.com

The first-degree murder trial of Beau Shawgo is still on track for mid-April, as agreed by the parties during a case management conference on Friday at the Randolph County Courthouse.

Shawgo, 38, of Percy, is accused of first-degree murder in the death of 55-year-old Jeffrey "J.R." Welty, also of Percy, in connection to a fight at the Hide-Away Tavern in Percy on October 24, 2016.

Welty died at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis from his injuries and the case has been set for jury selection on April 17.

Shawgo's co-defense counsel, Justin Kuehn, filed a motion in limine on Friday to bar potential prosecutorial questioning and arguments, and certain items of evidence from being introduced at trial.

Kuehn is one of three lawyers on the defense counsel, which includes C.J. Baricevic and his father, John.

The five-page motion seeks to exclude the introduction of prior bad acts by Shawgo, including any and all evidence regarding police contact with Shawgo, Shawgo's prior convictions, alleged acts of criminal conduct and any mention of any prior criminal activity.

The motion later provides a list of prior offenses by Shawgo that the defense counsel is seeking to be excluded.

The charges include resisting a peace officer in three separate cases, retail theft, burglary, domestic battery and some traffic and drug offenses. The majority of the listed cases are out of Perry County (Ill.).

"The Defense respectfully asks the Court for a pretrial Order precluding the State from introducing any of these arrests and/or convictions, as well as any other past conduct, whether it involved police conduct or not, that can even arguably be characterized as evidence of bad character," Kuehn wrote in the motion.

Kuehn claims that Shawgo's only conviction that meets criteria for cross-examination is his burglary conviction in 2011 out of Perry County.

"The defense respectfully maintains that this conviction should nevertheless be precluded from evidence because of the prejudicial dangers that it creates," Kuehn wrote.

In separate sections of the motion, the defense is also seeking to prevent the State from arguing during closing statements that in order for the jury to find Shawgo not guilty, the jury would have to disbelieve the State's witnesses.

"To inform a jury to believe the defense's witnesses, the jury must find that each of the State's witnesses was lying is a misstatement of law that denies a defendant a fair trial," Kuehn wrote.

Kuehn is also seeking to prevent Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker from "vouching for the credibility of any witnesses or expressing a personal opinion regarding Mr. Shawgo's guilt."

Also, Kuehn brought up something from Walker's closing arguments during the recent London Williams trial. In that case, Walker brought up a Google definition of the word "reasonable" while discussing an interpretation of "lawful justification."

Kuehn's motion asks the court to issue a pretrial ruling to prevent Walker from using definitions or other legal tenets not specifically included in the court's instructions.

"This request includes, but is not limited to, the presentation of Google definitions," Kuehn wrote.

The parties are due back in court on March 31 at 11 a.m. for a pretrial motions hearing.

Article Categories
Crime News