After more than four years in custody awaiting trial, Los Gatos mother Shannon O’Connor is having her day in court. She’s accused of hosting alcohol-filled parties for underaged teens during the COVID-19 shutdown and was arrested in June 2021.

O’Connor’s criminal trial has been underway since mid-November. It paused on Monday and Tuesday because a juror was sick.

Prosecutors planned to call a long list of witnesses. According to people inside the courtroom, witnesses who have already taken the stand include a police investigator, a medical doctor who spoke about a teenager who was injured at one of the gatherings, and at least one of the teenagers who attended the parties.

O’Connor initially faced 39 counts and potentially 17 years behind bars for allegedly throwing the parties for her son, who was underaged at the time, and his friends in 2020 and 2021. Prosecutors with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office alleged she also encouraged some of the teens to have sex.

O’Connor pleaded not guilty to the charges.

After numerous court delays over the years, prosecutors brought the case to a grand jury. In November 2023, O’Connor was indicted on 67 counts and, as a result, faced a maximum of 31 years if found guilty. Meanwhile, O’Connor has been held without bail.

In an earlier interview before the trial, her attorney, Stephen Prekoski, said he was surprised O’Connor has been awaiting trial in jail for so long.

“She’s been held without bail since the moment she was arrested. That is typically reserved for most serious offenders. It’s capital murder bail, for instance. She’s clearly not a murderer. She is, in fact, I think, very, very unlikely to be a repeat offender. And so, as far as the public safety concerns, I guess what I’m saying is, I’m a little bit surprised that that was the ultimate decision,” Prekoski said.

Prosecutors maintained O’Connor was a threat.

NBC Bay Area has reached out Wednesday to O’Connor’s attorney and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for comment about her ongoing trial and both had no comment.

Shannon O’Connor retained a new attorney Wednesday for her high-profile criminal case involving accusations she threw alcohol-fueled parties for high school teens. Candice Nguyen reports.