FILE - Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman speaks in Frankfort, Ky., Jan. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
January 29, 2025 - 3:12 PM
GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — The man charged with fatally shooting a Kentucky deputy during a traffic stop will spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of parole, after entering a guilty plea Wednesday.
Steven Sheangshang, 47, pleaded guilty at a court hearing in Scott County to charges that included the murder of a police officer. Sheangshang was charged in the shooting death of Scott County sheriff's Deputy Caleb Conley, 35, along Interstate 75 in 2023.
Sheangshang was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 70 years, to run concurrently, the attorney general's office said in a release.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman later proclaimed that "justice has been done.”
“The criminal who killed Deputy Conley will spend the rest of his natural life in the custody of the Kentucky Department of Corrections," Coleman said at a media briefing. "He’ll never hurt anyone again.”
Authorities said that Sheangshang fled after shooting the deputy and committed other offenses in Scott and Fayette counties. Sheangshang pleaded guilty to 14 felony charges, the attorney general's office said. It prosecuted him for offenses it said occurred in Scott County, including the murder of a police officer, robbery and two counts of wanton endangerment.
Conley had worked at the Scott County sheriff’s department for four years and served eight years in the U.S. Army. Members of Conley's family gave victim impact statements at the sentencing.
The Republican attorney general told reporters afterward that Conley was “a tribute to that uniform that he wore, that badge that he wore.” Coleman said the case sent a clear message: that his office will "zealously collaborate with our law enforcement partners to ensure anyone who takes the life of a Kentucky law enforcement officer will face the maximum punishment.”
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