Judge sentences Shawna Cash to life in prison without parole

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Shawna Cash will spend the rest of her life in prison without the possibility of parole for the death of Pea Ridge police officer Kevin Apple.

More than two and a half years after his death, his family, Cash’s family, the Pea Ridge Police Department and the entire Pea Ridge community now have closure on this emotional case.

The jury found her guilty of capital murder on Thursday. On Tuesday, the jurors spent four hours deliberating whether to sentence her to death by lethal injection or to life in prison without parole.

It was quiet in the courtroom as Judge Brad Karren asked Cash to stand as he read her sentencing verdicts.

On top of life without parole, they also sentenced her to 10 years for her guilty fleeing charge, six years for both aggravated assault charges and one year for her obstructing government operations charge. She also was fined $10,000 for each of those four lesser charges. All of her sentences and fines are to run consecutively.

This all happened after several hours of closing arguments on Tuesday. The defense rested its case on Monday. To begin sentencing discussions on Tuesday, the state had a short rebuttal to the defense’s sentencing witnesses.

They played the full phone call between Shawna and her older brother Chris on December 11, 2021. She was held in the Benton County Jail at this time. As the call begins, you hear the automatic message telling the callers that the phone call may be monitored or recorded.

Chris begins by asking her what she’s been doing and she replies, “My time,” with a laugh.

She tells him how she is nervous about her next court hearing happening the next week. She tells him she now weighs 170 pounds. Chris replies that he’s sure she’s looking better than she was before.

Jury finds Shawna Cash guilty of capital murder in Pea Ridge officer’s death

She tells him how her attorneys had looked at the videos of what happened and felt they had a strong argument for felony murder or second-degree murder.

She tells him how her ex was found to have committed suicide in Pine Bluff. She said she had been sober for four months before this happened, but she started using again after his death. Chris tells her she could have come to his family’s home as long as she was clean.

The state had played this next portion of the phone call during the guilty portion of the trial. She’s heard laughing with Chris about becoming famous and being on the news because of her case.

She told Chris about finding out she had killed Apple while she was being interviewed by a Benton County detective.

“I was like ‘Are you f***ing serious?’” she remembered with a laugh. She said all she had planned to do that day was get gas so she could drive to Pine Bluff to get her things from her ex’s home. She said, “He didn’t tell me I had a cop behind me,” referring to Elijah Andazola who was in the passenger seat of the Jeep when she hit Apple.

Chris reassures his younger sister by saying he knows she didn’t purposely kill Apple, and that she didn’t wake up that day with the intent to kill a police officer. Shawna told him how she had been awake getting high for three weeks before the incident happened.

She told him she had a gut feeling that day not to run away because there was a “be on the lookout” order from Rogers police, who they had fled from earlier that day.

“But me being me, I got away from the police,” she said with a laugh.

Chris is heard repeatedly telling Shawna to stay out of trouble while in jail. She told him she had gotten into a few fights.

She told Chris how she didn’t know Apple at all and that she didn’t plan to kill him. She said Andazola told her “We kill them or they kill us.” She said he was why she started running because he told her to go.

She shared how her defense is going to be that she is mentally unwell and how her childhood trauma impacted her.

Chris noted how she sounded happier and didn’t have the “I-don’t-give-a-f*** attitude” anymore.

Both told each other they loved the other before they got off the line.

Karren then gave the defense their instructions for sentencing. They will decide to recommend either life in prison without parole or death by lethal injection.

The jury has three aggravating circumstances to weigh: that capital murder occurred to avoid arrest, the purpose of capital murder was to disrupt the act of a government entity and that the murder happened in a cruel or depraved manner.

Arkansas law states that a capital murder is especially cruel when it is conducted with the intent to inflict mental anguish, serious physical abuse or torture upon the victim or before the victim’s death.

The law states that a capital murder is done in a depraved manner when the person relishes the murder or shows indifference to the suffering of the victim and there is evidence that there is a sense of pleasure in committing the murder.

Karren said they are only allowed to consider this list of aggravators. They have to decide if the prosecution provided these circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. They also have to be unanimous if they decide on the death penalty.

He told them they have to decide that at least one aggravating circumstance exists, that the aggravator outweighs the mitigators and that the aggravators justify the sentence of death.

He then read off about 100 mitigating factors from the defense that the jury should also consider. He told them they could add to the list of mitigating factors if they find any and that the burden of proof is only that these factors probably existed.

The factors detail every act of neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, instability, family trauma and mental health struggle that Cash experienced in her life that the defense was able to provide documentation or proof of during the sentencing witness testimony.

Jury receives glimpse into Shawna Cash’s childhood

Karren read them the sentencing parameters for the other charges Cash is facing. Fleeing has a range of three to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections, aggravated assault has a maximum of six years in the DOC and obstruction of government operations has a maximum of one year in the county jail.

Fleeing and aggravated assault also have options for transfer to the Department of Community Corrections and the accrual of meritorious good time.

The prosecution then began its closing arguments. Benton County Prosecutor Joshua Robinson talked to them about the imbalance of power when bringing a case to trial. The defendant is presumed innocent because the prosecution has the full power and support of the government.

He said there was also an imbalance of power at the White Oak gas station in Pea Ridge on June 26, 2021, that it was a man, Apple, of nothing but bones, skin, and muscle versus a 3,000-pound Jeep.

He said Apple stood in between that Jeep and the community that day, to try and protect all of the Northwest Arkansas community. Robinson reminded the jury how Cash had been a drain on police resources in multiple cities across Northwest Arkansas.

He reminded the jury how Apple had his gun drawn at the Jeep and he had the choice to protect himself and pull the trigger, but he didn’t. He said Apple showed Cash an act of mercy at the expense of his own life.

Robinson implored the jurors to be the voice of the community and to send a message about what the community is willing to tolerate.

He said there was no question about the first two aggravating circumstances. It was clear that an arrest was underway and Cash was trying to avoid it by killing Apple. He showed the photo of what Apple looked like as he had landed after being dragged by the Jeep for 149 feet before he had been covered up by an American flag.

Several jurors got emotional seeing the autopsy photos of Apple’s injuries again.

He showed the jury a photo of one of Cash’s tattoos on her arm that says “Nothing runs like a felon.” He said this is a motto she lives by, that running from the police is her lifestyle.

For the third aggravating circumstance, he reminded the testimony from Dr. Charles Kokes with the Arkansas State Crime Lab that Apple did not die from the initial impact of the Jeep. Kokes said that Apple was alive as he sustained scrapes and bruising all over his body, the most appalling of those injuries were his head injuries, where the skin had been ripped away from his skull.

However, these injuries did not kill him, as Kokes testified. Robinson said this entire time, Apple was fighting for his life, and that he was uncertain of his fate.

Apple’s right hand was specially cut up, which Kokes said was consistent with him holding onto an object in his hand. Robinson said that object was his gun, which was found clear across the parking lot by the curb and grassy median by Townsend Way.

“He wouldn’t let go of his gun,” said Robinson. A live bullet was still found in the gun, proving that Apple never shot his gun this entire time.

He said all of this proves that the murder was committed in a cruel manner.

To prove the murder was committed in a depraved manner, he said the moment Cash decided to hit the curb showed her indifference.

“He’s just a speed bump in her life,” he said, that he was a victim of her pattern of choices.

Defense rests case in Shawna Cash sentencing hearing

Robinson reminded the jurors of the multiple phone calls where she is heard laughing about what happened while she sat in the Benton County Jail awaiting this very trial where this jury will decide her fate.

He said he expected and encouraged the jury to accept mitigating factors. He said it’s clear that Cash experienced a difficult childhood, that her mother was a young and poor mother, that she suffered from sexual and physical abuse, and had various mental health issues.

He also pointed out Chris Cash, who went through much of the same trauma as Shawna. He’s an employed and married man who is a father to five children, he keeps a roof over his family’s heads and he is not addicted to meth. He told the jury how he believed their mother did the best she could and he still had respect for her.

The defense brought in Cash’s kindergarten and first-grade teachers from Waldron Elementary as witnesses. Robinson told the jury that everyone who sat in the same chair as Cash had a troubled past and was an innocent child at one point. He reminded them how her first-grade teacher didn’t feel that she had to refer Cash to the school counselor even though she had done so with other students. Documents showed that Cash was doing pretty well in school at this point too.

Robinson said that Cash wasn’t forced to move in with her boyfriend’s family when she was a teenager. She wanted to live there instead of moving with her mother out of state. She knew she would have access to weed and alcohol at this home.

Tristin Smith had testified that he never forced Cash to start doing meth. She had told him she wanted to start so that way she wouldn’t feel left out of their friend group. He claimed to the jury that Cash had saved him from a suicide attempt when they were younger and he wanted to repay her by saving her life now. The prosecution pointed out that Smith had never told anyone explicitly about contemplating suicide, only that he was having struggles with mental health.

Robinson appeared to take some issue with the defense testimony from Carl Dawson. He’s a therapist who specializes in substance use. He testified about the impact meth has on a person’s brain. He said he knew nothing about this case and had never performed any kind of evaluation on Shawna Cash.

He had told the jury that he used the same presentation in a previous criminal trial, but he had made some alterations to fit this case. Robinson pointed to the fact that the words fear, paranoia, fleeing behavior and escape were included as possible responses of someone who is addicted to meth.

He asked the jury to consider that these are not the only symptoms of someone who is addicted to meth. Some other symptoms of someone who is actively high on meth that Dawson pointed out were rapid movements, sweating and talking fast. Dawson said someone high on meth would never be cold.

Robinson referred the jury to Cash’s demeanor and actions while she was being interviewed by a detective hours after Apple’s death. She was sitting calmly, she was still for long periods of time and she told the detective that she was cold and tired at one point.

Robinson ended by saying this specific capital murder would be cruel and depraved for anyone, but this was an attack on law and order and the community lost a man who was willing to stand between it and a threat to protect it.

He told the jurors that the decision they will come to will send a message of deterrence for others who may commit this crime.

Defense attorney Katherine Streett gave the closing arguments for Cash. She began by clarifying a few things for the jurors regarding what Cash can be sentenced to.

Karren had read off the sentencing parameters for her lesser charges, several of which allow for release. She clarified that capital murder is the superseding charge and that there are no opportunities for parole if someone is found guilty. She didn’t want the jury to think that if they didn’t sentence her to death she could one day be out in the community again.

UPDATE: Trial date set for alleged accomplice in death of officer Kevin Apple

She said the defense did not ask the jury to find Cash innocent because of her mental health. In closing arguments of the guilty phase of the trial, the defense team made it clear that they agreed Cash killed Apple. They were arguing for the jury to find her guilty of second-degree murder and not capital murder.

Streett said that Cash has had a history of mental health illness since she was diagnosed with PTSD at the age of 11. She said this diagnosis in someone so young is not normal and speaks to the trauma Cash endured as a child.

“You have a life or death decision to make today,” Streett told the jurors. “You have the choice to lock her up until the end of her natural life or to kill her.”

She told them that neither sentence option shows tolerance or leniency and that Cash would not be getting off light if they decided to sentence her to life in prison without parole. She said nothing she is presenting as mitigating factors is meant to minimize Cash’s actions on June 26, 2021.

“I’m asking you not to kill her,” Streett said at one point in her closing arguments. She asked the jury to recognize the person beneath the damage.

She brought the jurors back to jury selection. She reminded them that they all agreed that life in prison without parole is a strong sentence. She said that we are all human and that they have all seen some very emotional and difficult testimony throughout the trial. She reminded them that they need to set their emotions aside when making the recommendation and she trusted they will do that.

“Any loss of an officer in the line of duty is devastating,” she told the jurors. She said nobody should die how Apple died, but she also said there is no way to fix it and there is no way to bring him back. She said there is no making this situation right.

She said if killing Cash could somehow bring Apple back to life, she said she wouldn’t try and stop the jury. However, she said their job is to punish Cash and to protect society from her, which can be done with life in prison without parole.

She acknowledged how difficult and exhausting it was to go through the dozens and dozens of documents they introduced to show as much context about Cash’s life as they could. She said she wanted the jury to know and fully understand the context of Cash’s life and what led to the person deciding to drive forward at the White Oak gas station and hitting a police officer.

She reminded the jury that the whole interaction with Cash and Elijah Andazola at the gas station happened so fast. Based on videos shown to the jury as evidence, it took about 15 seconds from the time the two Pea Ridge patrol cars surrounded the Jeep parked at the gas pump to when that Jeep pulled away and dragged Apple 149 feet.

Streett said it is clear that the prosecution has proven the first two aggravating circumstances, and they only have to prove one to move forward with the sentencing of capital murder. She said she had an issue with the cruel or depraved manner aggravator.

She fully agreed that the way Apple died was a horrible way to die, but she said it all happened so fast that she doesn’t believe Cash even realized Apple was being dragged by her car after the initial hit and he fell from the passenger’s view. To meet the aggravating circumstance of cruel or depraved manner, the state had to prove that Cash knew she was dragging Apple to his death. She believes her client didn’t know this.

Streett then addressed the recorded phone calls the jury has heard between Cash and various people while she’s been held at the Benton County Jail. She said she finds these phone calls incredibly offensive. While it’s clear they show some level of indifference months after it happened, they do not prove that she relished what she was doing at the time of the offense.

She said Cash’s history shows she has struggled with mental health since she was a young girl, she became addicted to meth as a teenager and dealt with a lot of trauma from the time she was born. She said how her client got to where she is and the path of her life is important for the jury to consider.

She said Cash’s trauma does not excuse Apple’s death, but it does explain how Cash became the person that she was on June 26, 2021.

She said Cash was essentially taught to run from a young age. The defense made a note of more than 35 different addresses Cash lived at by the time she was 16 years old. Streett said they often changed addresses around any time the Arkansas Department of Corrections started getting close to investigating the family.

She asked the jurors how any child is expected to learn planning, responsibility and critical thinking skills when they have no safety or stability.

Then she moved on to Cash’s struggles with meth addiction. She said that when life teaches a child that the world hurts their body physically and emotionally, when the people who are supposed to protect that child end up hurting them, you find something to make it better. These kids often grow up into adults who push their pain down and turn to anything they can to help suppress that pain.

“The pain is so bad they will do anything to stop it,” said Streett. She said these adults often can’t process their own pain much less take any consideration for the pain they cause other people.

She said Cash tried to push down her childhood pain with the extreme dopamine rush that someone gets from a meth high. She said running became a survival tool for Cash.

Streett brought up the class photo of Cash as a first grader and another of her when she appeared to be about 11 or 12 years old. She asked the jurors to have compassion for that young child who still lives within Cash. She said the way Apple died was egregious, but that Cash’s life has been egregious too.

Streett told the jury it only takes one person to say that Cash doesn’t have to die and justice will still be served. She said mercy is not something that has to be earned or deserved.

“Mercy is a choice of the giver, granted by grace when someone has room in their heart to see the humanity of a damaged person,” she said to the jurors.

She said that Cash is a damaged person and they can show her mercy if they choose. They have the power to decide that there is enough death in this case already.

She also warned the jurors that if they vote to give Cash the death penalty out of pressure, but deep down don’t believe in that choice, it will be something they have to live with for the rest of their lives.

She said the prosecution is going to say, “Why show Shawna Cash mercy when she didn’t show any to Kevin Apple?” She said this thinking would force the jury to model their decision on the actions of an impaired and damaged person who made a bad decision. She said using Cash’s standard of behavior to decide her fate isn’t right.

Again, she said that deciding to lock Cash up and throw away the key fulfills their job to punish her and protect the community.

“I’m asking you not to kill Shawna Cash because you don’t have to,” ended Streett. “The law doesn’t require you to.”

1 police officer dead, 2 suspects arrested after incident at gas station in Pea Ridge

Robinson got back up to give a rebuttal to this closing argument.

He said it appears the defense is asking the jury not to deliberate amongst themselves for fear that someone will be talked into the death penalty sentence. He urged the jurors to make an honest and thorough decision. He said they have to wait until deliberation to make up their minds and they can’t make any decisions in their heads beforehand.

He said he could live with whatever punishment the jury decides is fit for this crime just as long as someone wasn’t acting as a jury of one.

He said the defense appeared to make it seem that if they choose the death penalty, then that shows the jurors don’t have room in their hearts for a damaged person, that there is something wrong with someone for not giving mercy. He said there is room in justice for mercy and their job is to give justice even if it’s a decision that they may not feel good about.

He said they can make things right in this case by making sure justice is served.

Robinson wanted to be clear to the jury that he does not make light of sexual abuse and that he thinks it’s a tragedy, but asks if Cash’s experiences as a victim of sexual abuse balance out the scales of justice against the aggravating circumstances.

He said the person she became is still the person that she is. He said Cash is not a young girl anymore, but a woman who passed caring about others a long time ago. He said she is a woman who relishes and is indifferent to killing Apple.

He started to go down a path of saying that if she is locked up in jail for the rest of her life, she will still be in prison with others, that there is a community of people within any prison that she could be a danger to. The defense objected to this.

He said running away wasn’t just survival for Cash. She was actively running away from taking responsibility and accountability for her actions. He said people have to be responsible for their actions at some point.

He said he agrees that life in prison without parole isn’t a light punishment, but he said sentencing her to the death penalty will send an even stronger message that this community does not tolerate an attack on the system of law and order by someone indifferent to killing others.

“We will all die at some point,” said Robinson, adding that’s not what is scary. It’s the fact that death does come.

He said we all hope that death comes easily and calmly, that we all have time to prepare for it, to say goodbye to loved ones and leave our things in order. He said the fact is that Shawna Cash will die in prison, it is just up to the jury to decide how soon that happens.

He acknowledged that we have all been on the giving and receiving ends of mercy at some point in our lives. He said revenge is on the other side of the mercy spectrum, wanting an eye for an eye.

He said he was not asking for vengeance in this case. Apple did not have the benefit of a trial to determine how he died. Vengeance would look like killing Cash in the same horrific manner that Apple died. He said even if they sentence her to death, she will get time to prepare and say goodbye, something Apple didn’t get to do.

He said too often in life, it is the people who are given mercy repeatedly who aren’t able to give it to others. Kevin Apple showed Cash mercy when he didn’t pull the trigger. Rogers police showed her mercy when they didn’t do a dangerous maneuver on her car to get her to stop as she fled from them before heading to Pea Ridge. Bella Vista Police showed her mercy by using a taser to stop her and not a gun as she ran away from them after hitting Officer Apple. Amanda Smith showed her mercy by letting Cash live with her family for three years when she was a teenager.

“I’m not asking for vengeance, but I’m also not asking for mercy,” Robinson said.

Ultimately, the jury decided to sentence Cash to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After Karren read Cash’s sentencing verdicts, several of the jurors became emotional. Judge Karren acknowledged that this was a very difficult case and he deeply thanked the jurors for their time and dedication to making sure this was a fair trial.

He told Cash and her attorneys they have 30 days if they want to appeal this decision. Her attorneys declined to give any statement after the court adjourned.

Robinson will be holding a press conference Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. to share his office’s reaction to the jury’s decision.

The jury began deliberating at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday after taking a lunch break.

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