The woman accused of luring Los Gatos teens to wild parties and facilitating sexual assaults, appeared in court Monday for a hearing, just days after losing a bail appeal.
And while Shannon O’Connor didn’t enter a plea, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office says it’s working as quickly as it can to prepare paperwork so that can happen.
“We are still in the process of getting all of the discovery, meaning all of the evidence—so, that includes paper evidence, as well as interviews—to the defense attorney for him to review it,” Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise told reporters outside Santa Clara County’s Hall of Justice, following the hearing. “It was just continued for him to review it and then for us to have potential discussions on the case.”
‘They want to see justice for their children’
—Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise
Wise said she expects to deliver these materials (which she called “voluminous”) within the next two weeks, and emphasized she knows how “frustrating” the process is for the families involved.
“I’ve talked to them about it extensively,” she said. “They really want to see some movement on the case. And they want to see justice for their children, which I completely understand.”
O’Connor is currently behind bars, after a Judge Johnny C. Gogo denied bail following tearful testimony from teenagers and their parents about O’Connor’s behavior.
Her defense lawyer, Brian Madden, recently appealed this decision to California’s 6th District Court of Appeal.
“We found out last week that they summarily denied that motion,” Wise said, “the defendant is going to remain in custody on ‘no bail.’”
And while O’Connor sits in her cell, Wise says the DA’s office will be “moving as quickly as we possibly can” to pave the way for a just resolution.
However, she says she expects O’Connor to appeal her in-custody status to the California Supreme Court, first.
“So, we’ll see if they have a different position than the Court of Appeal did,” Wise said.
