Judge Denies Shepherd’s Request For Early Release
By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews
ROCHESTER — Alyssa Shepherd’s motion for an early release from prison has been denied by the judge who sentenced her.
Shepherd, 27, is currently 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, 6-year-old twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle; and their sister, 9-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.
In December 2019, Shepherd was sentenced to four years in prison, three years in community corrections or home detention and three years on formal probation.
In October 2021, the Fulton County probation department filed a brief regarding Shepherd’s eligibility for a community transition program. The purpose of CTP is to transition a defendant from incarceration in the Indiana Department of Correction to less restrictive supervision in the community. If she was approved for the program, Shepherd could have been out of prison as early as Dec. 20 of this year.
At that time, Fulton County Prosecutor Michael Marrs, as well as relatives of the Ingle, Stahl and Lowe children, filed statements in opposition of Shepherd’s early release.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Gregory Heller denied Shepherd’s participation in a community transition program. In the order, Judge Heller states that allowing Shepherd in CTP would “merely begin the term of community corrections home detention with electronic monitoring early, which was not the court’s intention and is not the purpose of CTP even though (Shepherd) is eligible.”
In his order, Judge Heller stated that Shepherd’s December 2019 sentencing was intended to transition Shepherd from prison to less restrictive supervision by including a term of incarceration followed by community corrections home detention and probation.
The Fulton County courts have ordered that DoC retain control over Shepherd until she completes her fixed term of imprisonment.
Shepherd’s release date from prison is projected for March 18, 2022.