Man jailed after reportedly attacking his attorney during assault trial
BY LAURA SUMMERS World Correspondent
Thursday, January 31, 2013
1/31/13 at 3:06 PM
BARTLESVILLE — A Bartlesville man who reportedly attacked his attorney in the middle of his assault trial this week was jailed and faces a contempt citation and new assault charge.
A jury trial was under way for Shawn Kelly Kennedy, 33, on Wednesday when he reportedly became violent. Kennedy, who was on trial for attacking a church pastor in April, allegedly assaulted Oklahoma City attorney Larry Monad, who had been appointed by the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System to represent him.
“As the victim passed the defense table, the defendant cursed and struck his counsel with his fists and then kicked his attorney,” Associate District Judge Russell Vaclaw stated in a court record. “Such conduct was openly contemptuous.”
Washington County Deputy John Zeillinger took Kennedy to the ground, while Vaclaw declared a mistrial and dismissed jurors who were seated in the second-floor courtroom. Vaclaw ordered Kennedy to return to court Feb. 20 for a new trial date to be set.
Kennedy has been held in Washington County jail with a $50,000 bond since April, when he was arrested for allegedly attacking a pastor at First Baptist Church’s Family Life Center in downtown Bartlesville. The trial was for a felony charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanor charge for assault and battery based on the April 27 incident.
Bartlesville police were called to the church center in the 400 Block of Cherokee Avenue around 11:10 a.m. where Kennedy was locked inside an office. The victim, one of several pastors on staff at the church, told police he had been attempting to get Kennedy some help through a local nonprofit organization when Kennedy suddenly became very angry.
Kennedy struck the pastor in the head and neck with his fists leaving scratches all over his face and also threw a ceramic lamp at him, court records state. When police arrived, the entire office was torn up and broken objects were all over the floor, according to a court affidavit.
Kennedy has previous felony convictions in Washington County from 2006 for assault and battery on a police officer and second-degree burglary and from 2010 for two counts of placing bodily fluid on a government employee.
Associated Images:
Shawn Kelly Kennedy
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