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Chasco DUI-Manslaughter Case Ends in Mistrial

Jury Deadlocks Late Wednesday

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By TODD LESKANIC | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 19, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Three days of complex testimony and more than three hours of deliberation brought no outcome to the DUI-manslaughter trial of Shannon Stephen, accused of killing two people walking home from the Chasco Fiesta two years ago.

Circuit Judge Jack Day declared a mistrial at 10:45 p.m. Wednesday after the jury foreman informed him the six-member panel was hopelessly deadlocked.

Verdicts in criminal cases must be unanimous.

Assistant State Attorney Eric Rosario asked Day to reschedule the case for trial within 60 days. The judge scheduled a status conference for July 1.

No witness who testified this week could put Stephen behind the wheel of his Chevy Silverado when it mowed down two pedestrians on March 26, 2006.

Evidently, jurors couldn't come to agree on the question either.

Shannon, 36, of Holiday, faced as much as 45 years in prison had he been convicted as charged of two counts of DUI-manslaughter and one count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death.

According to testimony, Stephen was drinking heavily with friends at Seven's Bar & Grill the night Joseph Swiech and Sarah Gleason were run over on Grand Boulevard. Swiech, 26, and Gleason, 24, who were engaged, were walking back from the Chasco Fiesta when they were hit about 1 a.m.

Two of Stephen's drinking buddies from that night testified they tried to stop him from driving but said he broke away from them and drove off alone in his truck. Another prosecution witness testified that he discovered Stephen by himself in his damaged Silverado about a mile from where Swiech and Gleason were hit.

The defense offered a different theory, saying that one of Stephen's drinking buddies was behind the wheel of the Silverado when it plowed into the couple, then took off and left an inebrieted Stephen to deal with the consequences by himself.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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