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Probation given in overdose case

Judge gives Shackelford chance to prove he has changed

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge has given a former Altoona man a chance to prove himself by sentencing him to four years’ probation rather than jail.

Jesse Lewis Shackelford, 47, who reported moving to Virginia to care for a family member, said Monday that he was using drugs in March 2023, but not selling them.

Shackelford asked for leniency by referencing his completion of a drug treatment program, his ongoing success with avoiding drug use and his responsibilities associated with caring for a family member.

“It’s turned me into a better person,” Shackelford told President Judge Wade A. Kagarise of his ongoing efforts since his arrest.

Kagarise, who told Shackelford that his case appeared at first glance to warrant incarceration, opted to impose the probationary sentence and added a warning.

“If you screw up with this kind of activity again, it will be a state prison sentence,” the judge said.

On March 8, 2023, Altoona police and ambulance personnel were summoned to Shackelford’s apartment on the 1100 block of 13th Avenue where they found a woman who had overdosed on heroin. The woman, who was related to Shackelford, was revived and transported to UPMC Altoona Hospital for treatment.

Police subsequently secured a warrant to search Shackelford’s apartment and found empty wax packets, packets of suspected heroin, hypodermic needles and what they considered to be an owe sheet.

Shackelford, in court Monday, denied that the paper was an owe sheet. Chief Public Defender Russ Montgomery said he would support that position by showing a picture of what was a very small piece of paper.

Kagarise, who pointed out to the defendant that “someone in your family almost died,” also referenced the empty wax packets that police reported finding in their search of his apartment.

Shackelford admitted to giving heroin to his relative. But he said the empty packets were from his use of heroin and not because he was selling.

Assistant District Attorney Julia Wilt told Kagarise that her office previously offered to address Shackelford’s charges by recommending a county prison sentence of 11.5 to 23 months incarceration for guilty pleas to his charges. She said that length of time would fall in the mitigated-to-standard range of the state sentencing guidelines.

After Shackelford rejected that offer, he entered guilty pleas to a felony charge of possession with intent to deliver and to misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, in exchange for a sentence to be decided by a judge.

Montgomery advocated for Shackelford by pointing out that prior to the March 2023 arrest, Shackelford had gone about nine years without prior offenses. The defense attorney also presented the judge with letters in Shackelford’s support, including one written by his wife, Shannon, who started to cry when Kagarise said he would hand down a sentence without incarceration.

Prior to imposing sentence, Kagarise quizzed the attorneys about whether the evidence in support of possession with intent to deliver went beyond the relative who overdosed. Wilt said that her review of the case indicated only the relative was identified.

Altoona police filed no charges against the relative who was reported to have recovered at the hospital. Police also said the relative said she had no recollection of what happened.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.

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