Grand jury to take up case of Louisville woman charged with husband’s murder
By DeAndria Turner
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WLKY) — A woman accused of killing her husband will now go in front of a grand jury.
Aleshia Reed is accused of shooting her husband, Shawn. She says it was a suicide. On Monday, she was in court for her preliminary hearing.
At the Hall of Justice, Shawn Reed’s family drove 10 hours to come face to face with the woman accused of murdering him.
“When she walked in and she couldn’t even look us in our face. She walked in and just sat down,” said Lola Morris.
Wearing shirts with Shawn’s face on them, his family sat in court, seeing Aleshia Reed for the first time since she was charged with murder.
The last time was at his funeral.
“At the funeral, she was fake. And seeing her in a courtroom. You are the same person who sat in the front row. The same person that you don’t have any emotions to this,” Morris said.
Prosecutors say in September, Reed shot and killed her husband in their St. Denis home, then claimed it was suicide.
But detectives say the evidence told a different story.
“The firearm was too great of a distance away from the deceased to have gone there on its own in the event that this was something that was self-inflicted,” said LMPD homicide Det. Michael Pugh.
Pugh testified the gun’s distance and wound angle didn’t line up with suicide.
“If you look at the firearm, the length from the end of the barrel to the trigger well from which the trigger would need to be squeezed, it would take, you know, every bit of your arm to do so,” Pugh said.
Investigators say Reed later admitted she moved the gun after the shooting. By the time her attorney began questioning the detective, Reed was in tears.
The defense asked for her bond to be lowered to $10,000, pointing out she’s never confessed, and hasn’t tried to run.
“There’s reasons that Mr. Reed might have killed himself. And the nature of defense shows that that Ms. Reed might be innocent here.”
They pointed to the loss of Shawn’s brother, who died just eight days before him, as one of those reasons.
But Shawn’s family doesn’t believe that. They say his death didn’t come from despair, but from domestic violence.
“We’re advocating for Shawn. We’re here for Shawn. Domestic violence when it surrounds men is something that needs to be. It needs to be put out there,” said Laura Morris. “He was definitely a victim of domestic violence. And in the end, it was his life that was taken from for that reason.”
Her case will go to the grand jury in November.
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