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Arrested on DWI charges
By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published October 21, 2009
Two men who spent eight months in jail charged with the death of Brandon McClelland before being released in June found themselves in jail again Tuesday, this time on driving while intoxicated charges.
Shannon Keith Finley and Charles Ryan Crostley, both 28, were arrested Tuesday in separate incidents within hours of each other.
Finley was booked in Lamar County Jail at 8:21 a.m. Tuesday and charged with felony driving while intoxicated. It was the third time he has faced DWI charges.
As a result of the previous DWI convictions and his conviction on a manslaughter charge, Finley could be sentenced to from two to 20 years in prison on the third DWI.
He was released on a $10,000 bond Tuesday.
Crostley was released on $5,000 bond. He faces misdemeanor charges.
The two became widely known after their arrest in the death of McClelland, who was found dead on a Lamar County Road in September of 2007. Those charges were dismissed after a truck driver came forward to say he might have been the one to hit McClelland. No charges were ever filed against the truck driver.
The dismissal of the charges came at the culmination of months of investigation by law enforcement officers and private investigators.
Early in the investigation Toby Shook of the Dallas District Attorney’s office was named to prosecute the case because Lamar County District Attorney Gary Young had defended Finley in an earlier case.
The trucker said he looked in his rear view mirror and saw nothing, stopped to check his truck and then went on his way. His deposition came just weeks before Finley and Crostley were to go on trial.
Finley and Crostley were charged with McClelland’s death in part because of acquaintances who told police the two men talked about his death and were the last people to be with McClelland on the night he died.
From the beginning, Finley and Crostley denied they had anything to do with McClelland’s death, but said the three had been out drinking on the night of the death and an argument ensued over who was sober enough to drive. At that point, the defendants said McClelland got out of the truck and began walking along the farm road.
Both men have earlier convictions.
Crostley had pleaded nolle contendre to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated in February of 2006. He also pleaded nolle contendre to a state felony charge of theft of property, more than $1,500 but less than $20,000 in June of 1999 and received deferred adjudication.
Finley was convicted of driving while intoxicated in April of 2003 and again in January of 2008.
He pleaded nolle contendre to the first and guilty to the second.
His manslaughter conviction, for which he served four years in prison, came in September of 2003, after the death of a friend.
Finley said the shooting was accidental and that he was actually shooting at would-be robbers.
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