Trial set for February for man who allegedly stabbed girls in 2012
By Vicky Wedig
Staff writer
A judge denied a plea agreement last week in the case of the stabbing of two girls in Whitewater nearly two years ago, according to online court records.
Larry M. Shannon, 42, of Whitewater, was again scheduled to be tried before a jury this week on 11 felony and three misdemeanor charges. Trials have been scheduled and delayed multiple times since Shannon was charged Nov. 2, 2012, with two counts each of attempted first-degree homicide, first-degree sexual assault of a child, incest with a child by a stepparent and strangulation and suffocation; three counts of false imprisonment; battery; disorderly conduct; and Sex Offender Registry violation.
Shannon appeared in court Sept. 10 with his attorney, Edward J. Hunt, for a final pre-trial before a five-day jury trial was set to begin this week.
Hunt and District Attorney Daniel A. Necci told the court the parties had reached a plea agreement. But Judge David Reddy found that the public interest is not met by accepting the agreement, according to court records. Instead, a final pre-trial was scheduled for Feb. 4, 2015 with a seven-day jury trial scheduled to begin Feb. 9.
In what apparently grew out of a domestic dispute on Oct. 29, 2012, police said, Shannon first bound the two juvenile girls with duct tape on their feet, hands and mouth, then stabbed them in the neck.
According to a criminal complaint, one of the girls told officers Shannon first choked her until she fell unconscious. After regaining consciousness, she said, Shannon slashed her throat and she saw him cut the throat and arm of the other juvenile girl. Then, the girl said, Shannon bound both girls with duct tape.
A surgeon at Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital said the wound in the throat of the first girl required 15 stitches to close. A police officer said the cut on the second girl’s throat was four to five inches long.
An adult woman told officers that when she arrived at the scene of the stabbings, Shannon choked her, dragged her into the living room, tied her to a chair and threatened to kill her.
After police were alerted to an emergency at Shannon’s Janesville Street residence, Shannon fled with one of the stabbing victims and another juvenile, according to the complaint.
Shannon was eventually apprehended in the City of Beloit, following a chase by police officers and sheriff’s deputies from both Rock and Walworth counties.
