In 2018, a handful of students had to cross a rural highway to get on their school bus in Fulton County, Indiana. Despite the safety arm of the school bus extended, signaling to all drivers to stop while kids crossed the road, 24-year-old Alyssa Shepherd ran through it, killing three children from the same family and severely injuring a fourth child.
It was an accident, yes, but a reckless one.
Over a year later, in December of 2019, Shepherd was handed a ten-year sentence. She would spend four years behind bars, three in home detention, and another three on probation. Considering she faced up to 21.5 years behind bars, given the nature of her crimes, this was a surprisingly lenient sentence. But perhaps that’s to be expected for someone without a criminal history whose crime was reckless rather than intentional. There were also ways to cut additional time off of her sentence for things like good behavior, but still, the earliest day she could have been released was September 22, 2022.
That’s why it came as a surprise when Shepherd was released from jail yesterday, six months earlier than even the earliest estimated release date.
Why the reduced time?
Because Shepherd took a Bible study course called “Plus Faith 2.0: Criminal Lifestyle, Attitudes & Behavior,” and that shaved an extra six months off of her sentence.
When the possibility of an early release was raised late last year, the mother of the children Shepherd killed was rightly irate:
Both [Fulton County Prosecutor Mike] Marrs and Brittany Ingle, the mother of the three children killed in the crash, say Shepherd does not deserve the opportunity.
“You wanting a shorter sentence, you act as if their lives didn’t matter. You are saying to us, our family, the community, the nation that their lives didn’t matter,” Ingle said.
Ingle and others gathered Thursday to protest the early release.
“To the woman who killed my children, if you think my kids are beneath you, you’re dead wrong,” Ingle said Thursday.
The outrage didn’t change anything, and Shepherd will now get to move on to the home detention part of her sentencing. Her license remains suspended until 2032. Meanwhile,