A Sierra Vista man charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 2017 will be re-tried next month, and the victim has been warned by the judge that she could be arrested if she does not show up at court to testify.
John Lucien Shearer is charged with 11 felonies, including sexual conduct with a minor and five other dangerous crimes against a child. He was originally convicted and sentenced on those charges in 2019 to 37 years in prison, but earlier this year he was granted a new trial by the Arizona Court of Appeals.
That two-week jury trial is slated to begin June 8 in Cochise County Superior Court. Court records show the teen, who will be 18 by then, became upset upon learning she needed to testify again against Shearer, 38, She reportedly told a social worker she did not want to testify “as she wants to put the matter behind her.”
As a result, prosecutor Lori Zucco and Det. Paul Youman of the Sierra Vista Police Department met last month with the teen. Afterward Zucco filed an emergency motion to ensure the teen’s testimony, even if it involves holding her in custody in the county jail.
“Based upon the circumstances and history of victim/witness (the teen), the State has cause to believe that she will not comply with a subpoena to appear and give testimony at trial, nor will she comply with an order of this Court directing her to attend a deposition in advance of trial,” Zucco wrote in the motion.
The prosecutor reminded the judge the teen “is a necessary and material witness in this matter, as she is the victim and only eyewitness to the six counts that relate to her. The State requires (the teen) to testify at the trial of this matter.”
The teen took part in an April 27 pretrial hearing at which she promised to appear for trial. Cardinal did not order the teen taken into custody at this time although she made a formal record that the teen understood the future consequences of not remaining cooperative.
Cardinal is the same judge who presided over Shearer’s first trial in the case in 2019. On appeal Shearer argued he was denied a fair trial when the judge forced him to be represented by a court-appointed attorney asked to be removed from the case before the trial started.
The court of appeals agreed, and in February of this year Shearer was granted a new trial. The reversal of his conviction led to Shearer’s release from the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) on April 15, but he did not walk out of prison a free man.
Instead, Shearer was taken into custody by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) where he remains in jail in lieu of $10,000 bail pending the new trial. Shearer will be represented at that trial by Chris Kimminau, a Tucson-based attorney appointed by the court in late March.
The charges against Shearer stem from a runaway juvenile report filed when the teen left her foster home in Cochise County and later came into contact in Tucson with Shearer, whom she knew only as John. They traveled back to Sierra Vista where officers were able to track the teen’s cell phone.
The teen told investigators the two used meth and had sex. She also described Shearer’s vehicle, home, and bedroom from which evidence was seized. There is DNA evidence as well.