Shepherd Gets 10 Years for Conspiracy

I'm getting this information second hand, but here is what I have been told happened at yesterday's sentencing hearing for Aaron M. Shepherd

Aaron M. Shepherd, one of the accused accomplices who was arrested along with Shawn Henderson and Anthony Moore in the murder of Lindsay Marie Harvey, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the crime, with all but 10 years suspended.

Shepherd, as you may remember, was charged with murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery but was found guilty only of the conspiracy charge by a Montgomery County jury.

Shepherd's extended family attended the sentencing hearing, as did Debra Harvey. Shepherd's family said he was a "hard worker" who interacts well with younger kids. Shepherd himself apologized to Judge Michael D. Mason but apparently had the gall to say that if Mason would let him "walk out of the court now" he would never see him in court again. He also said something about promising to do volunteer work for the elderly.

Thankfully, Judge Mason was not swayed by any of this.

He told Shepherd that it was obvious that he did not understand or take responsibility for the seriousness of his crime. He quoted from some of the victim impact statements that Lindsay's family and friends wrote and even went as far to say that Shepherd encouraged his cousin Henderson and recruited Moore for the robbery. And despite several opportunities to do the right thing -- dissuade Henderson, warn people of the potential danger, etc. -- Shepherd did nothing to try and stop Henderson and in fact supportred and encouraged Henderson by leading him through the Grove Park neighborhood the night Henderson killed Lindsay.

Even worse yet for Shepherd: the prosecutors noted that he had two other incidents on his criminal record, one of which occurred between the time of Lindsay's murder and his arrest (Lindsay was murdered on April 13; Shepherd was arrested in June)!

So Shepherd will spend at least a few years in prison (time already served is being counted towards the 10 years he received). With the law in Maryland being what it is and all the options we know Shepherd will have for reducing his time in prison -- reconsiderations, parole, diminution credits -- who knows just how much of that 10 years he will actually serve?

But Judge Mason deserves some credit here, for taking the victim impact statements into account and making a self-described rare move on his part to go outside the sentencing guidelines.

Shawn Henderson's sentencing hearing, by the way, is on May 21.