Blood evidence allowed in Shayne Healea trial
A judge will allow blood evidence that could prove that a mid-Missouri prosecutor was drunk at the time of a 2014 crash.
Shayne Heala, the Moniteau County prosecutor, faces four counts of second-degree assault and a felony charge of leaving the scene of a crash after he backed his truck into Addison’s restaurant in Columbia. The debris from the building injured four people inside. Police arrested him that night on suspicion of driving while drunk.
Judge Rick Tucker once more denied attempts by Healea and his attorney, Shane Farrow, to dismiss his charges based on an alleged Sixth Amendment violation by CPD. Farrow claims that the department illegally recorded a phone call that Healea made to his attorney on the night of his arrest, despite asking for privacy to make the call. The attorney general’s office, which is handling the case after Boone County prosecutors recused themselves, claims that it had no knowledge of the taped call and never planned to use it as evidence at trial.
Farrow also attempted Thursday morning to exclude several pieces of evidence from the trial. He claims that CPD improperly prepared and served a search warrant for Healea’s blood to test for a blood-alcohol content. The warrant, signed by Judge Christine Carpenter, allowed for only two “samples” of blood. Officer Scott Alpers testified that he drew blood twice, once at 10:13 p.m. and again at 10:45 p.m., and produced four vials from it. Farrow argued that each vial counted as one sample, and the judge should dismiss the other samples.
Tucker admitted that CPD violated state law in regard to preparing and serving the warrant, but considered the two samples described in the warrant to mean two separate blood draws.
The judge also ordered the special master’s report on the possible Sixth Amendment violation to be unsealed on March 10, giving either attorney time to appeal his decision. Farrow told ABC 17 News after the hearing that he and Healea were “considering all our options” regarding an appeal.
The court plans to call 70 jurors from Shelby County for the three-day trial, which begins June 5.
