By Vicky Wedig
Staff writer
A Whitewater man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of extended supervision for first-degree sexual assault of a child causing great bodily harm.
A jury found Larry M. Shannon, 43, of Whitewater, guilty Feb. 12 of that offense, 10 other felony offenses including two counts of attempted murder and a misdemeanor battery charge.
He received a life sentence May 8 on the first-degree sexual assault charge and was handed consecutive sentences totaling 145 years in prison and 60 years extended supervision on the other 10 felony offenses.
District Attorney Dan Necci said he argued during Shannon’s sentencing hearing that Shannon should never walk out of state prison, and the judge agreed.
“He’s going to be in prison the rest of his life and there’s nothing he can do about it,” he said.
The charges stem from an Oct. 29, 2012, incident in which Shannon sexually assaulted and cut the throats of two juvenile girls.
He was convicted of two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault of a child, first-degree sexual assault of a child causing great bodily harm, three counts of false imprisonment, two counts of strangulation and suffocation and battery.
Police said Shannon first bound the two 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.
