Choosing
Battles
&
INTERVIEW BY ROSS PFUND
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIP MALONE
Shannon L. Kennedy, of The Kennedy Law Firm
in Albuquerque, on everything from civil rights
cases to outrunning moose in Alaska
Q: You work with your husband, Joseph.
What’s it like to practice with your spouse?
A: It’s wonderful. We run our own law firm,
so one or both of us are working while the
other one is there for the children. Also he
is just an excellent attorney, and it’s good
to just have a good law partner, a good life
partner. We tried the Ellis case together.
Q: Tell me about that case.
A: It was a unique situation because
Kenneth Ellis’ sister was a nurse at the
veteran’s hospital where he was treated.
He had thrown his body on a buddy [while
serving in Iraq] and basically taken shrapnel
from an IED. He fought to save his own leg
and was walking, and his sister witnessed
him recover from the physical injuries. He
was still suffering from the psychiatric
injuries of PTSD.
[One day, he] was standing on a street
corner in front of a 7-Eleven with a gun to
his own head, saying to officers, “I’m not
a threat to civilians or officers.” Since in
his other hand he was calling his mother,
[we heard that] the officer, Brett Lampiris-
Tremba who shot him once in the neck, [said
afterward], “Was that me?”
And we had cab reports showing that
from the time Kenneth Ellis’ vehicle was
stopped until the time he was shot was
approximately nine minutes. So it was
clear that the officer who shot him was
violating training on how to de-escalate
situations with people who are in a mental
health crisis.
The sole beneficiary of Kenneth Ellis III’s
estate was his son, Kenneth Ellis IV, who
was 5 years old when his father was killed.
He is an adorable, adorable little boy, who
