Did you know that In West Virginia, negligent homicide carries a sentence of up to a year in prison, according to the West Virginia Code? 

Why is that a problem?

In January of 2020, my best friend and soul sister was killed in a car accident in West Virginia. Her name was Alisha Rae Shamburg, and she was going home to her mother and young son after work. She wasn't speeding or texting. She was wearing her seatbelt. But she was hit head-on and killed as a result of reckless driving and the choices of the driver. 

She wasn't the only victim. The passenger of the car at fault, Hunter Muse, was a sweet boy who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and was trying to be a good friend and ride with the driver. I didn't know Muse personally, but tragedy brings people together in unexpected ways, and due to covid and having young children in school, I have yet to meet them, but I feel for them. They are wonderful people who have turned this tragedy into a way to raise awareness and give back to the community through something their son loved: sports. They started an organization called Hoops For Hunter, and they help do wonderful things for the community through sports. 

The driver was one hundred percent at fault, displayed total disregard and recklessness, and was going so fast that the crash was described as looking like "a missile hit" to Alisha's large Dodge truck she had just bought and was so proud of. He was showing off and speeding to impress his friends. That's why Alisha and Hunter died. It was proven by experts in the trial that the driver was at fault and was doing a minimum of 72 miles per hour in a 50 mile per hour zone.

And West Virginia Law thinks that a year in prison for negligent homicide is enough for unintentionally taking a life. 

DID YOU KNOW

• that if this crash happened roughly 100 miles away in Maryland, Drivers convicted of Manslaughter by vehicle or vessel could serve up to 10 years in prison...
• Let's go roughly 160 miles over to Deleware... a conviction for the driver would generally serve 2 to 15 years in prison AND a four-year license revocation.
• And finally, let's just hop over for a three-hour road trip to Pennsylvania... up to five years in prison.

Again, West Virginia Law thinks that up to a year in prison for negligent homicide is enough.

Well, I'm here to say IT'S NOT. 

ALISHA AND HUNTER DID NOT GET JUSTICE.

The driver was found guilty of two counts of negligent homicide stemming from an automobile accident Jan. 16, 2020, that took the lives of Muse, 17, and Shamburg, 30. In March of 2021,  he was sentenced to one year on each count, to be served concurrently.... HOWEVER, only 60 days were to be served in jail, while the rest was to be spent on supposed home confinement, but I'm fairly certain he's out running around, already. West Virginia has stricter laws for recreational marijuana! Recreational laws in West Virginia are strict, and a first-time possession charge is punishable by a minimum of 90 days incarceration. He could have gotten more time for weed than killing two people...

Let thank sink in.

Only 60 days of jail time for killing two people. 

The magistrate of that case should especially be ashamed. After hearing that the driver used the defense of seizures to explain a possibility for the accident, it was proven that they never disclosed that information when applying for his State Driver's Licence. After hearing that not even 6 months later, got convicted of speeding recklessly fast at 92 in a 65 zone.

She could have sentenced him to 2 years in prison, but because he's a young, white, privileged young man, he got sixty days and had a house party the day of his release. Even two years would have been better than the sentence he got, but she decided to slap the victims' families who have to live with a lifelong sentence without the victims in the face, and let the killer walk away with a slap on the wrist in the name of "not ruining his future" while they no longer have one. Hunter never got to graduate Highschool. Alisha will never see her son, her pride and joy, grow up, and now her son will have to grow up without his mother.

How can you help?

Please sign my petition.

Please write your senator if you're in West Virginia, and tell her we need stricter laws and penalties for people like this driver - who wrecked his truck, was driving his mother's Kia at 70+ miles an hour, and hit Alisha head-on before there was anything she could do, AND THEN got convicted of speeding recklessly fast at 92 in a 65 zone less than 6 months after the crash.

PLEASE WRITE YOUR SENATOR. THE LAWS IN WEST VIRGINIA NEEEEEEEED TO CHANGE. Please, keep another family from the heartache of losing a loved one and having to watch the blatant disregard, and watch the justice system tell families that their loved one's lives were only worth "60 days of jail time".

The magistrate said choices were made and there was shared responsibility, basically. But Alisha was coming home from work to her family and son. Hunter was trying to be a friend. And they both died for it. 

I'm begging you. If you're in West Virginia or know someone in West Virginia, PLEASE SHARE AND WRITE your senator.

Please, please, please let something good come out of their deaths, and help it prevent the same heartache to happening to someone else.