Pre-Trial Hearing Delayed

Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009

A pretrial hearing scheduled for Friday in Parker in the case against a Marion man charged with killing a former Lake County deputy sheriff has been delayed.

Ethan Johns is charged with first and second-degree murder for the March 15th shooting death of Turner County deputy Chad Mechels.

Johns says it was self defense.

Mechels was sent to Johns' rural Marion home to check on him after Johns apparently made threats to harm himself.

They shot at each other and Mechels was struck in an arm and the throat.

The clerk of courts says the hearing on a motion to suppress evidence will be rescheduled.

The South Dakota Sheriffs' Association is sponsoring a poker run on Saturday as a benefit for the Mechels' family.