'Miracle' Girl Sees Attacker Sentenced       

[June 16, 2007]  BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- To a prosecutor, Ashley Reeves is nothing short of a miracle. More than a year ago, the teenager was found in the woods of a city park, where an assailant had left her for dead after snapping her neck. She couldn't move. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes glassy. On Friday, after months of grueling rehab learning how to swallow, talk and move her head and arms again, the 18-year-old Reeves watched the man who caused her ordeal get punished.

Samson Shelton, 27, offered no apologies to Reeves in pleading guilty to one count of attempted first-degree murder. As part of the deal he made with prosecutors, he immediately was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

By law, he'll have to serve 85 percent of his sentence _ about 17 years _ before being eligible for parole.

That's fine with Reeves, who didn't care that Shelton, even when given the chance by a judge Friday, never said he was sorry, never showed remorse for his actions.

"I'm glad it's over with," Reeves said, her speech slightly stilted. "I just want to continue with my life and not worry about it."

She graduated from high school last month and plans to go to college.

"As you can tell, Ashley Reeves is a miracle," St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida said.

Her family signed off on the sentence and the plea deal.

"Ashley needed to have some peace," Haida said, noting the plea deal spares her from having to testify.

Shelton's mother, Susan, said her family "reluctantly" settled for the deal, insisting he would not have gotten a fair trail because of "the continuing demonization of Sam."

Officials have said Shelton once taught at a middle school Reeves attended. At the time of the attack, Shelton taught driver's education and physical education at a high school, but not the one Reeves attended.

Shelton told authorities that he and Reeves had sex once and he was trying to break off the relationship while driving on April 27, 2006. He unbuckled her seat belt and tried to eject her from the car because she became unruly, according to Shelton's videotaped statement.

Shelton said he heard her neck pop and her body went limp. He drove to a city park and carried her into a wooded area "to make it look like she got strangled there." He said he tightened his belt around her neck, then heard a gurgle followed by nothing. She was found 30 hours later, clinging to life.

Authorities say Shelton injured her neck with his forearm so severely her neck was broken.

Shelton's plea came after a judge accepted a psychiatrist's assessment that Shelton was mentally fit. His competence was questioned after an apparent suicide attempt last month.

Authorities say he was combative with sheriff's deputies and ambulance crew who tried to help him after the prescription drug overdose. He pleaded not guilty to six felony battery charges that are pending.

[Associated Press]