Pretrial Hearing Scheduled July 21

Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009

A pretrial hearing has been rescheduled in Parker for the case against a Marion man charged with killing a former Lake County Deputy sheriff, Turner County deputy Chad Mechels.

Ethan Johns is charged with first and second-degree murder. 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.

A hearing on a motion to suppress evidence was scheduled for last month but was delayed and is now set for July 21.