Unlike the days where Shannon O’Connor refused to show up to her various court appearances, now that her trial is underway, she’s been on her best behavior.
On Jan. 8, the incarcerated defendant—who’s accused of hosting dangerous parties for teens, furnishing them with alcohol and encouraging them to have sex with one another while she milled about—arrived at the Santa Clara County Superior Court with a relatively relaxed demeanor.
In somewhat of a shift from the librarian-style outfit of earlier in the week, she was sporting a loose ponytail—styled to the right—and wore a grey cheetah print sweater. It didn’t come off as a high-end designer fit, but rather, something you might order on Amazon or grab from Target.
All week, the court heard from witnesses who shared how O’Connor used her wealth—such as the basketball court, the pool and the hot tub in her backyard (at the house where she lived with tech executive husband Robert Amaral)—to become deeply ingrained in the worlds of middle school and high school kids, and how she’d altered the course of their lives.
Following a grand jury indictment, O’Connor is now accused of 63 offenses, including multiple counts of child endangerment and furnishing alcohol for a minor.
Jane Doe 3 testified that, at one of the parties, she was so drunk there was a risk she could’ve drowned while in the hot tub—where she was engaging in sexual activity with a boy.
She said her memory was blurry about the situation, but added she believes O’Connor was around.
“She definitely did see part of it,” the witness stated.
At the time—as another boy-and-girl pair was also engaging in sexual activity in the pool—she says she wouldn’t have been bothered if O’Connor watched what was occurring.
“I wouldn’t have really cared if she was there or not,” the witness stated.
Her tone seemed to catch the deputy district attorney a little off-guard, but Deputy District Attorney Joanna Lee quickly followed-up with, “So, that’s how much sex was normalized?”
Defense lawyer Stephen Prekoski lodged a “leading non-question” objection to this retort, which was sustained by the judge.
But at another point, the overall picture was painted quite vividly with this question.
“Do you think you were sexually groomed by Ms. O’Connor,” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes,” Jane Doe 3 replied. “I would say that she did.”
The witness said O’Connor’s attitudes about sex stuck with her for about a year or two after their closeness.
But the overall effects have lasted much longer, as—in a 180 from what life was like in the defendant’s orbit—she says she now plans to wait until marriage to have sex again.
The defense tried to poke holes in Jane Doe 3’s account of events.
“I’m sure that you can tell that it’s very, very important the very specifics about your time in the hot tub,” he said. “You describe yourself as drunk.”
He asked her if—as she sat at the witness stand—if she had an actual memory of that incident she could still bring back up.
“I don’t,” she admitted.
However, she added—though the precise recollection may have faded—she trusts her earlier testimony about the incident, where she described O’Connor being present for at least part of the time she was in the hot tub.
“I’m not attacking your honesty,” the defense lawyer said, before asking for clarification about how it could be that she’d testified a boy and a girl hooked up, though she’d also said they weren’t in a relationship. “I’m old and I’m unhip and I’m not versed in the ins-and-outs of the relationships of 14-year-old children.”
She explained to him that just because teens had sex at one point or another doesn’t mean they were in an ongoing “relationship.”
The next witness, Jane Doe 7, testified that Snapchat played a major role in O’Connor’s outreach to the children.
She said O’Connor was one of her Snapchat Best Friends for quite a long time—and frequently her “#1 Bestie.”
“Have you ever been friends with another parent on Snapchat?” the prosecutor asked.
“Absolutely not,” she replied.
Jane Doe 7 recalled how O’Connor would give her rides home, and how they would sometimes sit and talk for hours, after pulling up in the driveway.
“I confided in her,” she said, bursting into quiet tears.
She testified that details of her sexual relationship with her boyfriend would often get back to the defendant.
“Was it kind of like having a third person in a relationship?” the prosecutor asked.
“Absolutely,” the witness replied.
Jane Doe 7 also testified that O’Connor claimed to have clairvoyant dreams, adding the defendant even shared some of the content of her dreams with the kids.
One time, something similar to what took place in one of these dreams—which were at least sometimes sexual—actually ended up happening, the witness said, adding this lent credence to them, though her rational mind knew this didn’t exactly make sense.
The dream about which Jane Doe 7 said she has the clearest memory was the one where O’Connor told them she’d dreamed about a boy and a girl having sexual relations above Los Gatos, atop Mt. Umunhum.
The witness said she was around 14 years old at the time.
The trial is continuing this week.
