Prison can be a soul-sucking place. There’s very little that’s good about it. You have no freedom to move as you please. You have little access to friends and family. People tell you when to eat, when to sleep, when you can go outside. It’s not fun. Shanteari Weems is currently serving four years in prison, for shooting her then-husband after she says she caught him committing a crime, but she says despite her surroundings, she’s doing OK.
Not only is she doing well, Twitter thinks that she’s looking pretty darn good, too, and now, a photo of her serving her sentence has gone viral and renewed the fight to clear her name.
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Shanteari Weems shot her ex-husband, James Weems, twice in the neck and leg.
An image of Shanteari Weems posing in prison recently went viral on X, formerly Twitter, and people complimented not only her looks, but the crime that landed her behind bars in the first place.
Shanteari Weems was sentenced to four years in prison for shooting her ex-husband for allegedly molesting children at her day care center in Maryland, according to People.
Weems told WUSA9 she’s not a violent person but that she “snapped” when she shot her ex-husband twice at a Washington, DC, hotel on July 21, 2022.
The allegations against James Weems were first brought to her attention when police told her they were investigating her husband and shut down the day care she owned, Lil Kidz Kastle, while they evaluated the allegations. Shanteari Weems says the police were vague about both the allegations and who they were investigating.
"The only person I had to find out information from was my husband," she said. "And he kept saying he didn't do it … I did believe him."
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'We were both supposed to be on this crusade of saving children,' Shanteari Weems said of her marriage.
What convinced her that her husband was actually guilty was a conversation with the mother of a child she’d loved and cared for for many years. One day, the woman asked Shanteari Weems for a private chat. "I saw the pain in her face, and I knew she was not lying," Weems told WUSA9. "She finally said it was my husband."
Shanteari Weems says she broke in that moment. "I felt like the blood had just drained out of my body because … it was my husband. He was supposed to help me protect these children. He always told me he was my protector. So when I heard this, I just felt like – I just felt like my world had ended," she said.
Shanteari Weems said not only had her trust been betrayed, she had to evaluate the ways in which she had failed the children in her care. “We were both supposed to be on this crusade of saving children, and child molestation is something that we had talked about all the time, how horrible it was,” she said. “I think about that child all the time. I think about all the children all the time."
Shanteari Weems said she even contemplated killing herself. "I feel I let my family down," she said. "I feel like I let those kids' families down. I feel like I just trusted the wrong person.”
James Weems is currently on home detention while he awaits trial.
James Weems, a retired police officer and Marine veteran, worked as a bus driver at the day care. He is accused of molesting four children, two boys and two girls. The investigation into James Weems began on July 3, when parents told police that their 10-year-old daughter said “Mr. James” showed her pornography on the day care bus and touched her inappropriately on the playground, CBS News reported.
A warrant was executed later that month and a search of James Weems’ web history corroborated the girl’s story. He faces over 33 counts of rape and child sex crimes, according to The Washington Post. A judge ruled that he can await his trial, set for May 6, 2024, on home detention, according to CBS News. He is not allowed to have contact with children, victims, or witnesses.
Shanteari Weems says she is remorseful but won't apologize to her ex-husband.
Many internet users wonder why Shanteari Weems is serving four years in prison while her husband is still comfortable in his home. The judge in Shanteari Weems’ case, Superior Court Judge Michael O'Keefe, sentenced her to double what prosecutors recommended, calling her actions “deliberate cruelty.”
A notebook recovered from the hotel room where the shooting took place contained a makeshift will and Shanteari Weems’ plans to shoot her then-husband. She wrote that her goal was to paralyze him, not kill him.
When WUSA9 asked if Shanteari Weems was remorseful, she said she was sorry for what she did to her husband but had no intention of apologizing. “I will apologize when he apologizes to those children,” she said.
Shanteari Weems said her supporters have uplifted her and helped her survive.
Shanteari Weems’ attitude has gained her support from all over. The “hashtag #FREESHANTEARI has shown up on Twitter, with people sharing ways to write to her and put money on her commissary account in prison. “I have a lot of supporters and people who uplift me and help me survive,” she told WUSA9.
Shanteari Weems has also said that she’s relying on the strength of the women imprisoned with her to make it through. As she continues to serve out her sentence, she’s already thinking of what she will do in the future, including starting a nonprofit to fight child abuse.
"I’m definitely going to make a great batch of lemonade from these lemons I’ve been dealt," she said.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
