Supporters were left shocked and outraged Friday as a Maryland woman was sentenced to four years in prison for shooting her husband, a retired police officer who she accused of molesting the children she babysat.
Shanteari Weems previously pleaded guilty to accusations that she shot her husband, James Weems, at a luxury hotel in Washington, DC, in July 2022. But she told the court she only did so after the kids in her care reported that he’d been sexually abusing them for months.
Even so, DC Superior Court Judge Michael O'Keefe on Friday doubled the sentence that Shanteari’s lawyer had agreed to in a plea deal with prosecutors, subjecting her to four years in prison instead of two.
“I am outraged – I cannot believe it,” said Jolene Ivey, the wife of US Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and a Prince George's County council member. “I was sure she'd be walking out with us today, and she should be.”
Court documents show retired Baltimore police officer James Weems stands accused of showing pornographic videos to children, touching their “private areas,” exposing himself to them, and forcing them to touch him sexually. Prosecutors allege the abuse took place in the bus he transported the kids in and on the playground. Several of the victims said the former cop told them they’d be punished if they revealed the details of his abuse to anyone.
The defense stated that after receiving numerous reports from the victims and their parents, Shanteari simply snapped and shot her husband while the couple was staying on the eighth floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Southwest DC.
Police responding to the scene said workers told them they saw blood on the wall of the Weems’ hotel room, but when officers arrived Shanteari threatened to shoot herself if they entered the premises.
When police asked if there was a shooting victim present in the room, Shanteari reportedly confirmed: “he's a child molester."
James suffered a broken femur but survived the gunshot wound, and has been jailed on charges he sexually abused at least four children ranging in age from 8 to 11. He was denied bail in August.
“I was supposed to protect those children,” Shanteari explained in a statement to the court Friday. “My husband was supposed to help me protect those kids. I bear so much guilt because the person I chose to love and trust turned out to be the one the kids needed protecting from.”
“The guilt came crashing down on her,” her defense attorney said. “She was under the crushing guilt of feeling that she had let these children down.”
James isn’t the only former Baltimore cop to face justice for their crimes against children in recent months. In December, a Baltimore SWAT officer was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for raping a child and secretly photographing hundreds of kids naked.
The episode is drawing comparisons to a Russian father who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison last year for allegedly forcing his former best friend to dig his own grave – and take his own life – after realizing the man had been sexually abusing his six-year-old daughter.
Russian public opinion overwhelmingly favored the defendant, and unlike the American case, the Russian judicial system appeared to respond to their wishes; the dad was released early last October after serving just six months.