By David Lohr
October 2, 2007
INDIANA (Crime Library) — Fifteen years ago, four teenage girls were arrested for the murder of 12-year-old Shanda Renee' Sharer. Never before had such a brutal murder been carried out by a group of young women who were not far from being children themselves. The foursome was later convicted of their crimes, and in the years that followed two of them earned their release from prison. Now the girl who has been looked upon as the ringleader of the crime, Melinda Loveless, 31, is hoping to win her own early release.
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| Melinda Loveless |
Loveless is scheduled to appear before a Jefferson Circuit Court two weeks from now, at which time her lawyer, Mark Small, will argue that her sentencing rights were violated and that she had received insufficient legal representation.
"She pled guilty under duress, believing that she faced the death penalty," Small recently said in an interview with Madisoncourier.com. "A person does something under duress when they can't freely choose and face a threat. The law was changing at that time on the death penalty. At that point she wasn't really looking at execution."
It is Small's belief that his client has served her time and that the judgment should be vacated. She is, according to Small, both reformed and remorseful. Perhaps he's right. Maybe Loveless is remorseful, although given her past history I find it unlikely.
Before debating the question of whether or not Loveless has paid her dues, perhaps a refresher is in order. Let's revisit the night of Friday, January 11, 1992, the night Loveless reached her boiling point.
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Death of Innocence - The Murder of Young Shanda Sharer
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