VIRGINIA NEWS – Governor Youngkin commuted the sentence of former Fairfax County officer who killed unarmed man

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

Just days after a Former Fairfax County police officer was sentenced Governor Glenn Youngkin stepped in to commute his sentence. The officer was involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man who was accused of stealing sunglasses in Tysons Virginia. Youngkin’s actions mean the former police officer, Wesley Shifflett, will not serve any more time behind bars. A judge had originally sentenced Shifflett to serve three years in prison on Friday after he shot and killed a suspected shoplifter outside of Tysons Corner Center in February of 2023. Shifflett was convicted by a jury in October 2024 for recklessly handling a firearm. However, he was not found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. 

Youngkin stated that he commuted Shifflet’s “unjust” sentencing saying that it violated, “the cornerstone of our justice system,” and that it’s in the best interest of justice that he be released immediately. He went on to say, “In this case, the court rejected the Senior Probation and Parole Officer’s recommendation of no incarceration nor supervised probation and instead imposed a sentence of five years’ incarceration with two suspended and an additional five years of probation.”