A young woman raped in Sierra Vista in March 2017 when she was 13 will not have to testify at a second trial, thanks to a negotiated plea agreement which ensures her assailant spends the next 15 years in prison.
The plea deal signed by John Lucien Shearer and the Cochise County Attorney’s Office last week calls for less than half the 37-year sentence given to Shearer after a jury convicted him in 2019, but that conviction was overturned on appeal due to a pretrial procedural ruling.
The new non-trial resolution spares the victim from having to relive the experience once again in open court and guarantees the case against Shearer, 38, is resolved once and for all.
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After the change of plea hearing, prosecutor Lori Zucco said she worked with the victim when it was announced Shearer would get a new trial, to determine an outcome which “would put this matter to rest for her” and allow the now 18-year-old to move forward.
“While we would have preferred the original conviction and sentence, providing closure to the victim at this point served the greater interest of ensuring justice was not further delayed or denied,” Zucco said.
Shearer will be formally sentenced this summer and then turned over to the Arizona Department of Corrections from where he was discharged last month after serving time for drug and firearms offenses committed in September 2017.