Alyssa Shepherd will head to prison for four years following the October 30th, 2018 fatal bus stop crash in Fulton County that killed six-year old twin brothers Mason and Xzavier Ingle and their sister, nine-year old Alivia Stahl.
The crash also injured 12-year old Maverik Lowe, who has gone through 21 different surgeries since the crash.
Judge Gregory Heller handed out the sentence Wednesday afternoon in Rochester. Shepherd faced three felony counts of reckless homicide, felony criminal recklessness and a misdemeanor of passing a school bus with its stop arm extended, causing injury. Her maximum sentence was 21.5 years.
For each felony count of reckless homicide, Shepherd received one year in prison, one year on house arrest and one-year probation.
An additional year in prison comes from the other two charges.
During the hearing today, three people spoke on behalf of Alyssa Shepherd, including her husband Neil. Alyssa also spoke in a short, emotional statement saying that her “heart aches for that day, the family and those images. I can’t go back, and I’m sorry.”
Fulton County Chief Prosecutor Mike Marrs, on behalf of the state in the case, was looking for a 14-year sentence for Shepherd, including ten in prison, four on probation and a driver’s license suspension of five years. Shepherd’s attorney’s were looking for an eight-year suspension.
Following the session, Brittany Ingle was accused of lunging at Shepherd. She was seen coming out of the courthouse in handcuffs. Marrs says Brittany Ingle made contact with Shepherd and will most likely face a battery charge.
10 comments
This infuriates me.. 3 years?? She deserves a much harsher sentence than that. 3 children were run down and killed by here and she only gets 1 year per child??? Yet the families have a lifetime of pain, and NEVER have the opportunity to watch their children become adults, marry, reproduce, etc. . RIDICULOUS, I would bet if it was the judges children that were run down by her, she would be receiving the maximum sentence… inconceivable how this judge could even begin to think this was a fair sentence.
With good time, 1.5 years. If she takes Classes probably less than 1 year, and may even come out with a degree. Meanwhile, someone somewhere is serving 10+ years for a possession charge. Or an 18 year old boy is registering for life as a sex offender after serving 5 years; for a relationship with his consenting 17 year old girlfriend. Im sure she feels awful but come on! I feel like things happen for a reason but it is instances like this that make that hard to believe. I truly hope she knows how lucky she is and does something meaningful with her life.
This young mother made a horrible mistake that took more than three lives, it destroyed far more. Was there intent on her part? No. Will three years in prison punish her? Rehab her? How will this affect her children? The memory of what she did will haunt her the rest of her life. I know I can say the same about the victim’s family but nothing will bring the children back. God have mercy.
Did you read anything about this case? This woman has no remorse what so ever, and only acted as though this whole ordeal was a huge nuisance to her schedule. Zero regret, at all, she’s entirely unrepentant only said what she did at sentencing due to lawyer advice.
This sentence is bullshit. ONLY 3 YEARS IN PRISON?!?!?! What if those poor angels in heaven, were her kids? Would she be ok with it then? On the other hand, popular belief is that prison is not a fun place to be after you murdered 3 children……
That’s insane!! She deserves longer in prison than 4 years! She killed 3 children and that’s all she gets?! She admitted she saw the lights but just did t know it was a bus!! Get out of here with that bull! What’d she think it was that early in the morning besides a school bus? My heart and prayers go out to the family of the children ❤️ 🙏
Now that Alyssa Shepherd will be incarcerated for 7 years (4 years prison/3 years corrections), all the school children in Indiana are now safe. School administrators can move their bus stops back on busy state highways, allowing them to cross in front of oncoming traffic in the dark again. School bus drivers can now merrily wave the kids across the highway even though oncoming traffic has not stopped.
In other words there is a lot of blame to go around for this senseless tragedy. The parents of these precious children should thoroughly sue the school corporation for their negligence!
The families at the mobile home park asked the school district to come inside the park to pick up the kids so they wouldn’t have to run across a highway in the dark but the school district’s efficiency experts said that turning into the park and then back onto the highway would waste precious fuel and time so no. The kids can continue to cross the high way in the dark. The Prosecutor said the bus stop has been run that way for 50 years without a problem. Doesn’t matter. I could say I was a race car driver for 50 years and I never got killed so that means race car driving is perfectly safe, ludicrous! Oh the day after the tragedy the school district suddenly starts going into the park to pick up the kids, really? Yea and the bus driver saw the car was still coming but assumed it was going to stop and waved the kids right into their death. You never wave kids into traffic until you see that oncoming traffic has come to a complete stop. The lady behind Mrs. Shepard said she could see it was a bus. We’ll after everything came to a stop and was lit up by Mrs.. Shepard’s vehicle. The lights on the other side of the street were probably a distraction from seeing what was on Mrs. Shepard’s side of the street; kids walking across the highway in the dark. The school board and the bus driver should be (I edited out what I was going to say so my post won’t be deleted).
I agree on all aspects, but feel you should cut the bus driver some slack, don’t feel I need to explain why. We all very well know all the details, no need to rehash it.
One of the most astounding defense claims ever . If you are so ignorant , uncaring , or otherwise distracted while driving . And cannot pay enough attention to know what to do when you see a school bus . All the earlier reports talked about how she was driving at moderate speed . Baloney .The trucks computer says over 60 .Look at the damage on the front of the truck . THAT’S FROM THE BODIES of the kids . All this bunk about the bus stop location .Dim light . Or the bus driver having blame . Look at the drivers license test .SCHOOL BUS . Stop arm extended , flashing lights . BIG YELLOW BUS . If this doesn’t register in your brain , DON’T DRIVE ! She can rot in jail for all I care .