MONROE — A Rock County jury has convicted a former Monroe resident accused of felony drug charges here with second-degree reckless homicide and homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle related in a separate case in the traffic death of a Janesville woman following three days of testimony.
Because the second charge would be viewed as a weaker version of the first, Judge Ashley Morse only entered a finding of guilty on the reckless homicide charge, according to published reports and court records. Those reports say that during the closing arguments in the jury trial of Mark McCoy, the 50-year-old defendant, Assistant District Attorney Rich Sullivan revealed that a witness testified to McCoy’s involvement in three previous accidents attributed to falling asleep at the wheel.
Additionally, during the four-day, jury trial it was noted that a blood test conducted hours after the recent crash — after the administration of IV fluids — indicated that McCoy’s blood alcohol level was below the legal limit.
Meanwhile, Green County officials earlier had vowed to continue prosecuting the defendant allegedly running a major drug operation out of his house in a residential neighborhood, even though the suspect also faces sentencing on the Rock County convictions.
It is unclear how the Rock County conviction and pending sentencing will impact the Green County cases. District Attorney Craig Nolen said his office was not giving up on the local cases, despite the defendant now facing significant jail time.
“Green County Case Numbers: 21CF139 and 22CF33 will continue to proceed regardless of the outcome of the trial, said Nolen, in an email Thursday. According to court records, McCoy has a hearing scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Feb. 25 before Circuit Judge Jane Bucher.
In Monroe, he was among three people charged after an investigation — led by the State Line Area Narcotics (SLANT) team — involved a suspected marijuana grow operation in the 500 block of 21st Street on the city’s southwest side.
The two-story brick house in which he resided was raided last Feb. 10, 2022. In addition to the pot grow, and 17,000 grams of marijuana, authorities also allege in a statement that they uncovered separate psilocybin mushrooms grow operation — along with 50 grams of suspected cocaine and nearly 3 grams of heroin. There also was a separate grow operation in the garage at that location.
In the Green County cases, McCoy, was charged with maintaining a drug trafficking place, manufacturing THC, manufacturing psilocybin, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, felony possession of a firearm, bail jumping and possession of drug paraphernalia.
McCoy was out on a $50,000 signature bond on that drug case — and yet another from a 2021 traffic stop near Monroe — when authorities say he was driving and crossed the center line of South County Road D on the morning of April 23, 2023, and collided with a vehicle driven by 55-year-old Susan Hohmann of Janesville.
Hohmann was pronounced dead at the scene.
In yet another 2021 case — before the SLANT raid on the Monroe house — McCoy was clocked by Green County deputies going nearly 70 mph at about 3 a.m. on Wis. 11, with a passenger along. The deputy smelled marijuana and a K9 later alerted that there were drugs in the car.
A search turned up a loaded handgun, along with cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana. As a result, McCoy and a passenger were charged with multiple felonies. Nolen has said the 2021 stop was separate from the SLANT case and that other evidence was developed to secure a warrant for the suspected drug house.
In 2021, McCoy also was convicted of a fourth operating while intoxicated charge, another felony, according to court records. Moreover, records also indicate he was convicted of felony battery or threat to judge, prosecutor, or law enforcement officer in 2022 and sentenced to six months in jail.
McCoy faces up to 25 years in prison at his Rock County sentencing on March 14.