Jacksonville, FL — The man who fled to Chicago after running over a man and fleeing the scene has had his sentences thrown out.
Adam Shepard and the victim were drinking at a Jacksonville Beach bar and watching a basketball game in January 2011 when they got in a verbal fight, and Shepard was escorted out. Shepard then called the victim- Spencer Schott- multiple times, and Schott eventually agreed to go to apartments on Beach Boulevard. Schott met Shepard in a parking lot, and court records say he rushed toward Shepard’s car. Shepard then drove into Schott and fled the scene. Schott suffered head injuries and died the following day.
Shepard was found two weeks later in Chicago.
Shepard was convicted in 2015 of one count of manslaughter with a weapon and one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving a death. Court records say the minimum permissible sentence is 147.3 months, with the maximum being 30 years for each count. He was ultimately consecutively sentenced to 30 years for manslaughter and fifteen years for leaving the scene- totaling 45 years.
During sentencing, the court said it was clear Shepard had “no remorse or acceptance of responsibility in the two weeks” after the hit-and-run, according to citations in the First District Court of Appeals ruling. It further says Shepard intend to continue evading capture when he was found in Chicago and showed he didn’t intend to take responsibility.
The Appeals Court has now found that, while remorse or an admission of guilt can be ground for a lighter sentence, a lack of remorse cannot be used to increase a sentence. As such, Shepard’s sentences have now been vacated and he will be resentenced before a different judge.