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Niece Of Suspect In Trooper Death Gets Probation

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An 18-year-old woman who admitted to being uncooperative during the investigation into the shooting death of a Kentucky state trooper will not have to serve prison time.

News outlets report that Ambrea Shanks of Florissant, Missouri, was sentenced Monday to five years of probation after pleading guilty in a Lyon County courtroom to first-degree hindering prosecution or apprehension.

Thirty-one-year-old Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder was shot to death in September in western Kentucky after a high-speed chase that reportedly started with the trooper pulling over Shanks' 25-year-old uncle, Joseph Johnson-Shanks, for speeding.

Police say that during a phone call with her uncle, Shanks told him he was on speaker phone and not to say anything.

Authorities say Johnson-Shanks was later shot to death by troopers after he refused to surrender.