The trial of a 32 year old Vandalia man charged with domestic battery was declared a mistrial following opening statements after new information in the case was found. The jury trial of Larry Ishum began Monday in Fayette County Court with jury selection and opening statements. As the trial was set to continue Tuesday morning with the state’s first witness, the state made it known that they would like to call additional witnesses due to the new information brought forward and that information could lead to Public Defender Ed Potter being called as a witness which would create a conflict of interest. Due to the situation, the defense moved for a mistrial which was granted by the court. A conflict public defender Walter Lookofsky has been appointed as the new counsel for Ishum and a first appearance with the new counsel is now set for July 1 at 11am.
Meanwhile, Ishum is now facing a new felony charge of harassment of a witness. Information filed in Fayette County Court on Tuesday states that Ishum is alleged to have sent letters to the alleged victim in the domestic battery case between April 14 and June 19 of this year and is alleged to have asked the victim to lie on his behalf and to change her story. Ishum will appear in Fayette County Court this morning at 10am on the harassment charge.