Mason City man’s kidnapping trial rescheduled for next week after mistrial appears will be delayed again

MASON CITY — After last week’s mistrial, it appears that the kidnapping trial of a Mason City man scheduled to start next week will be once again delayed.

24-year-old Moises Erreguin-Labra was charged last June with first-degree kidnapping as well as assault causing bodily injury. Mason City police and fire medics were called to a report on the afternoon of June 9th of last year that a female had been assaulted and held against their will for several days by a man known to them.

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.

Jury selection in the original trial started last week but a mistrial was declared prior to a jury panel being selected.

A new trial was scheduled to start on Monday, but Erreguin-Labra attorney Joseph Lapointe has filed for a continuance, stating that none of the defendant’s witnesses can be present next week as they are all working out-of-state. Lapointe states that if the trial were to be delayed for a month, they would be able to be present.

A ruling on the continuance has not yet been filed.

If convicted of first-degree kidnapping, a Class A felony, Erreguin-Labra would face the rest of his life in prison without the opportunity for parole.