Amish Retreat Leader Sam Shetler’s Defense Succeeds: Trial Moved To New County — Date Expected This Month

Amish retreat leader Sam Shetler will not be tried in Cooper County, Missouri — the county where he ran the Mercy and Truth Retreat, and where he was arrested in March. Prosecutors have agreed to move the case.

This is the latest in a case we’ve been following since Shetler’s arrest in late March. If you’re new to the story, he made his first court appearance without a lawyer, saying he needed church approval before hiring one. Seven new charges followed in April, including involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 6-month-old.

A grand jury then indicted him on 10 counts, two of which carry a possible life sentence. He pleaded not guilty in May, and was again denied bond (the most recent update we’ve had).

Prosecutors Agree To The Move

Shetler’s attorney filed the motion to change venue on May 26, arguing that Cooper County is small, the case has drawn heavy attention, and a local jury pool would come in prejudiced against him. The motion proposed three alternatives – Montgomery, Monroe, and Shelby counties.

Now, KRCG is reporting that the state agreed to have the case heard in Montgomery County. That’s not exactly next-door, but it’s not on the other side of the state either, lying several counties east. For whatever it’s worth, there is one small Amish community in Montgomery County, in the area of Middletown.

Why did the prosecution agree? One idea may be that they are considering the possibility of appeal, if Shetler does get convicted. You’d assume they would want that conviction to hold up on appeal, and that this would matter more than trying a case closer to where it happened, especially if the jury pool really is compromised, as the defense suggests.

What The Court Docket Shows

I pulled the case file myself on Missouri’s Case.net system, and a couple of things there are worth adding.

One thing worth noting: the transfer doesn’t appear to have been formally ordered yet. On the docket for July 30 is a “Consent to Ruling” filed by Cooper County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Phelps. ABC 17 reports the same, noting a judge has not yet ruled on the motion. Montgomery County doesn’t appear anywhere in the docket entries. That detail comes from the news reports.

There’s another thing on the docket that doesn’t line up with some of the reporting. The latest from KRCG states that Shetler has been held on a $100,000 bond since March.

But that bond was revoked in April, as KRCG themselves reported at the time. The most recent reference to bond is a May 20 entry that states “Bond remains set at no bond.”

Trial Date Expected To Be Set August 13

The hearing to set a trial date is still on for 3 p.m. on August 13, in Cooper County Courthouse in Boonville. So the venue may be changing, but that hearing is currently slated to happen in Cooper County.

Attorneys on both sides have said they expect the trial itself to run two weeks.

The Change Of Judge Doesn’t Match The Docket

Back in May we learned via reporting that Shetler’s side had requested the change of judge. The docket says something different. The May 10 entry lists that motion as filed by Phelps, the prosecutor, and the court’s own note from the May 11 hearing reads:

States Motion for Change of Judge is sustained. Clerk to direct the matter to the supreme court for assignment.

I don’t know yet which version is correct. But if the docket is right, that move came from the state, not from Shetler’s side.