Loading ...Plea Sends Track Stars to College, Not Prison
The Osceola High School twins accused of beating up a school resource officer last fall will go to college, not jail, under an agreement reached on the eve of their trial.
Jason and Jarrod Sheppard, track stars from St. Petersburg, were put on six years’ probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service each year.
They also had to write apology notes to the resource officer and a student who was hurt.
The twins could have been sentenced to 15 years in prison each for their role in a hallway brawl in September.
But last week, the day before the trial, their attorneys met with Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge R. Timothy Peters to negotiate a plea.
“This was a no-win situation,” said Nat Kidder, Jarrod’s attorney. “If we had gone to trial and won, the victims clearly would have been upset. If we had gone to trial and lost and they’d gone to prison, that wouldn’t have been justice.”
Jason pleaded guilty to battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated battery and resisting arrest with violence. Jarrod pleaded no contest to the same charges, plus an additional charge of misdemeanor battery.
The agreement cleared the way for the Sheppards, 19, to go to a Kansas community college on track scholarships. If they violate their probation, however, they will go to prison for six years.
The twins could not be reached for comment. Neither could Deputy Alex Herring, the officer who went to a hospital with a fractured nose after trying to break up the fight.
The scuffle began with an argument over a cafeteria chair and escalated into a brawl involving several students.
Sophomore Jouwy Concepcion was stomped and kicked. Herring said he took the worst beating of his career at the twins’ hands.
The Sheppards spent about three months in jail before a judge reduced their bail to an amount their family could pay.
Now, Jarrod is preparing to get his high school diploma and go to Garden City Community College in Kansas this summer, Kidder said.
Jason won’t graduate until next year. But a scholarship is being held for him at the same college, said Bjorn Brunvand, his attorney.
The Pinellas County school district wouldn’t confirm the status of the two students, citing confidentiality rules.
In their notes of apology to Herring and Concepcion, the twins asked for forgiveness.
“I apologize about what happened at Osceola,” Jason wrote to Herring, “and I hope you fine (sic) it in your heart to forgive me.”
St. Petersburg Times – St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author: Janet Marshall