Lawrence County man sent to prison in domestic assault case

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Jul. 28—MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — A rural Verona man drew a five-year prison sentence this week on a conviction for a felony assault of his girlfriend.

Shawn J. Gantt, 38, entered an Alford plea Monday in Lawrence County Circuit Court on a count of first-degree domestic assault in a plea agreement dismissing related counts of kidnapping, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. An Alford plea accepts no guilt but concedes a conviction would be the likely result if a case were to proceed to trial.

Judge David Cole accepted the plea deal and assessed the defendant the agreed-upon length of sentence.

According to a probable-cause affidavit, Gantt terrorized Kayla Harris on Sept. 30, 2017, at a residence in Aurora through physical abuse and threats to kill her with a gun.

He began abusing her by grabbing her face and squeezing it. She went to a bedroom to get away from him, but he followed her, slapped her and poked her in the ribs, telling her that was where he intended to stab her.

He then pointed a pistol at her and told her not to get up off the bed and then rushed at her and knocked her off the bed onto the floor. She was crying and begging him not to kill her when he put the pistol down on the floor and told her, "The only way you're getting out is by killing me."

Gantt later threatened to pistol-whip her, hit her in the head and put the gun to her forehead while she was on the phone to her mother telling her what was happening. The affidavit states that he eventually let her go to her mother's place, telling her that she did not need to fear him because everything he had done was just "a live simulation" intended to test how she would react and that in his estimation she had failed the test.

The charges were dismissed by the Lawrence County prosecutor's office in 2018 and refiled in 2020.

Gantt also faced felony domestic assault charges from an incident Nov. 14 of last year involving a second woman, his wife. He was accused of kicking, punching and choking her in addition to throwing a small sword at her and putting a shotgun to her head and threatening to blow her face off.

Those charges have since been dismissed, according to court records.