Alleged `party mom' gets new lawyer, but trial is still delayed
Her appointed attorney says it should take months to resolve Los Gatos mother's case
The Los Gatos ”party mom” has a new lawyer, but it may take until next year for her long-awaited trial on charges she hosted drunken, sex-fueled parties for her freshman son and his high school classmates.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Peterson appointed Stephen J. Prekoski to represent Shannon O'Connor, 49, and set a June 5 hearing to schedule a trial.
But Prekoski indicated outside of court that it will take months to resolve her case.
“I don't expect to begin this jury trial in 2024,” said Prekoski, who was appointed through the county's Independent Defense Counsel Office, which represents people charged with crimes who cannot afford a lawyer in cases where traditional public defenders cannot step in due to conflicts.
Prekoski takes over the defense more than two years after O'Connor first was arrested in the highly publicized case that rocked the tony Silicon Valley town. He said there are some 40,000 pages of documents to review, including social media communications and testimony from the monthlong grand jury hearing that led to O'Connor's indictment last fall.
O'Connor agreed to continue waiving her right to a speedy trial after speaking with her new lawyer. She has been jailed since her initial arrest in October 2021 after being denied bail following a hearing in which teens and parents testified they felt threatened by her. A state appellate court rejected an appeal of the nobail hold and the state Supreme Court declined further review.
While in custody, O'Connor has been beaten by other inmates, hospitalized with an infection and accused of plotting a jailhouse drug-dealing caper.
It was unclear whether Prekoski would seek bail for O'Connor, but he criticized her ongoing incarceration outside of court.
“I don't know if people know she's still in jail,” Prekoski said. “She's given capital murderers' bail — she's no bail. That doesn't seem right to me. She's already been sitting in jail for years.”
O'Connor's trial has been pushed out repeatedly for various reasons. She initially was charged in a criminal complaint, but a preliminary hearing that would have been a first step toward a trial was delayed when she asked Judge Peterson to tell her what her sentence would be if she pleaded guilty as charged. Told it would be more than 17 years, she opted to proceed to trial. Health issues added further delay.
Prosecutors sought to speed things along by obtaining a grand jury indictment, which bypasses a preliminary hearing and allows a judge to simply schedule a trial. But O'Connor's inability to continue paying her lawyer led to a lawyer change and further delay.
O'Connor's second husband, with whom she has a younger son, filed for divorce last year and court filings indicate she is representing herself in the family court case. He cited irreconcilable differences and claimed assets including much of the proceeds from the $4.6 million sale of their Los Gatos home in December 2021.
Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise said Wednesday she couldn't predict when the trial will be set.
“The people are ready to proceed to trial now,” Wise said, “and I look forward to finding out when the defense will be ready.”