Alyssa Shepherd Seeks Early Prison Release
By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews
ROCHESTER — Alyssa Shepherd is seeking an early release from prison and Fulton County Prosecutor Michael Marrs has filed a motion in opposition.
Shepherd, 27, is incarcerated in the Rockville Correctional Facility after disregarding a stopped school bus, killing three children and severely injuring a fourth.
On Oct. 30, 2018, a school bus traveling north on SR 25 in Fulton County was stopped in front of a mobile home park to pick up children. Shepherd was traveling south on SR 25 in a Toyota Tacoma when she hit four of the children who were trying to board the bus.
Three of the children, six-year-old twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle and their sister, nine-year-old Alivia Stahl, died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash. The three siblings all attended Mentone Elementary School.
A fourth child, Maverik Lowe, now 14, sustained multiple broken bones and internal injuries.
This week marks the third anniversary of Alivia, Mason and Xzavier’s passing.
Shepherd was sentenced in December 2019 to four years in prison, three years in community corrections or home detention and three years on formal probation.
A brief was filed by Fulton County’s probation department on Monday, Oct. 18, regarding Shepherd’s eligibility for a community transition program. If Shepherd is approved for the program, she could be out of prison as early as Dec. 20 of this year. Initially, Shepherd’s prison release was set for September 2022 but has since changed to March 2022 after Shepherd completed a Bible study course that cut time from her sentence. A judicial decision regarding Shepherd’s possible early release has not been made.
In his motion to the courts, Marrs listed several reasons as to why Shepherd’s community transition should be opposed.
Marrs argued that at the time of sentencing, the state argued for a lengthier executed sentence given the catastrophic nature of the case and the damage suffered by the Ingle, Stahl, Lowe and Pletcher families.
“Allowing further reduction of (Shepherd’s) sentence beyond (Shepherd’s) time cut of six months erodes the justice this conviction has established and minimizes the lives taken by (Shepherd),” read the state’s motion. “For recklessly killing three children and severely injuring a fourth child, (Shepherd) will have served a mere two years in the Department of Corrections and while the community transition program will not greatly reduce (Shepherd’s) sentence it does serve as a further injustice in this case by additional erosion of the minimal sentence she received.”
Brittany Ingle, Xzavier, Mason, and Alivia’s mother, as well as Andrew and Marlene Pletcher, Maverik’s grandparents, filed letters with the court arguing against Shepherd’s early release from prison.
“To the woman who killed my children, you think you are doing good in helping those you choose to help,” read Ingle’s letter. “But God knows you, Alyssa, chose to ignore those flashing red lights for your own selfish needs. You want time out for good services in prison so you can be home for Christmas just after two years? You can’t even serve the 75 percent of your time ordered in court. Sins cannot be buried. They are always there until we face them or until judgment day. It’s called justice for Alivia, Mason and Xzavier. They were my everything and you have not even served 75 percent of your short sentence. You act as if their lives didn’t matter, you are saying to us, to their family, the community and world, that their lives did not matter much.”
“If Alyssa Shepherd gets out early that’s like a slap in Maverik’s face,” reads the Pletchers’ letter. “For the last three years, he went through hell to get to where he is today. Maverik went through 12 hours of surgery (on Oct. 30, 2018) and many more after that including a knee replacement. Alyssa has never told either family she was sorry and never has asked how Maverik is.”