JEFFERSON CITY (St. Louis Record) – Former Moniteau County Prosecuting Attorney Shayne Wyatt Healea recently was indefinitely suspended by the Missouri Supreme Court following his conviction last fall for backing his truck into a Columbia restaurant in 2014.
The Supreme Court's Jan. 29 order followed a motion for final order of discipline and Healea's four misdemeanor convictions Sept. 4 in Shelby County Circuit Court. The high court handed down the indefinite suspension, saying no petition for reinstatement will be entertained for six months from the date of the court's order.
Healea also was ordered to pay all costs in the matter.
Healea was admitted to the bar in Missouri on Sept. 15, 2010, according to his profile at The Missouri Bar's website.
In September, Healea entered a guilty plea to three counts of misdemeanor assault and a single count of driving while intoxicated, according to multiple news reports.
Allegations against Healea stemmed from him allegedly backing his truck into Addison's restaurant in Columbia in October 2014. At the time, police reported that Healea left the scene and then parked his vehicle in front of a local hotel but he later was found in an alley near the restaurant, where he was arrested.
Healea, who was charged with multiple counts of second degree assault and a single count of felony leaving the scene of an accident, maintained he didn't realize he struck the restaurant and was returning to the scene when he realized what happened.
Among the court developments that followed over the next four years, a Shelby County Circuit Court judge in March 2017 denied Healea's motion to suppress blood evidence and that same month Healea sought to have a special prosecutor disqualified from the case. In August, a Shelby County Circuit Court judge declined Healea's request for a delay in his trial and Healea entered his guilty plea the following month.
Healea's plea deal reportedly included his agreement to serve two years of probation. He also resigned as prosecutor and Moniteau County Circuit Judge Kenneth Hayden appointed attorney Ann Perry as temporary prosecutor.
Republican Mary Kay Lutz was elected in November to replace Healea.