Mason City man’s kidnapping trial delayed due to lead prosecutor’s illness

MASON CITY — The kidnapping trial of a Mason City man that was scheduled to start today has been postponed.

23-year-old Moises Erreguin-Labra was charged in June with first-degree kidnapping, a Class A felony punishable by life in prison without the opportunity for parole, as well as assault causing bodily injury.

A criminal complaint states that Erreguin-Labra locked a female victim in a room in a home in the 400 block of 1st Southwest for at least five days last June, not allowing her to leave, and subjecting her to sexual abuse or torture. Mason City police and fire medics were called to a report on the afternoon of June 9th that a female had been assaulted and held against their will for several days by a man known to them.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin this morning at the Cerro Gordo County Courthouse, but prosecutors filed a motion on Tuesday asking for a delay in the trial since the lead prosecutor for the county is ill and would not be able to participate in the trial.

District Judge Rustin Davenport approved the continuance and ordered that a trial scheduling conference take place next Tuesday.