Kelley sentenced for child abuse, firearm charges

William Kelley Jr. - the husband of Ann Marie Kelley, who has been missing since April 15, 2008 - was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison Thursday in an unrelated case.

Judge Daniel Bryan Jr. presided over Kelley’s sentencing for two counts of child abuse, two counts of felon in possession of a firearm and one count providing false information on a firearm application.

William and Ann Marie Kelley have four children, ranging in age from 3 to 15.

He was sentenced in two cases on Thursday, which were amended on March 19 due to a plea agreement with the State of Nebraska, represented by Gage County Attorney Randall Ritnour.

Kelley was originally charged with first degree sexual assault, a Class II felony, carrying a sentence of 1-50 years in prison; possession of more than one pound of marijuana, a Class IV felony, carrying a sentence of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both; possession of drug paraphernalia, a $100 fine; felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a sentence of one to 20 years, a $25,000 fine or both; and providing false information on a handgun certificate application.

The sexual assault charges were based on allegations that Kelley had supplied drugs and alcohol to a girl under age 16 from August 2006 to August 2007 in order to have sexual intercourse with the girl.

In the plea agreement, the sexual assault charge was downgraded to two counts of intentional child abuse, a Class IIIA felony, carrying a maximum of five years.

Kelley was required by the judge to plead guilty to the charges, which included two counts of a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of providing false information on a firearm application. The firearm charges, Class IIIA felonies, carry a one to 20 year sentence, a $25,000 fine or both.

Ritnour said the felony and misdemeanor possession charges were dropped because they weren’t as big compared to the other charges.

“It was the lesser charge to bargain with,” he said.

Ritnour said the plea bargain began over a year ago, before his Feb. 1, 2009, vow to end plea bargains.

Ritnour asked Judge Bryan to consider the maximum penalties on all charges.

“These two cases present a snapshot of William Kelley. If I could characterize him at all, I would characterize him as arrogant and remorseless,” Ritnour said.

Defense Attorney Todd Lancaster with the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy said Kelley did not show remorse because he told him not to respond to the allegations for his own good.

Though Kelley claimed he was not aware that his former charge was a felony, Ritnour said it did not matter, because it was, and possessing a firearm as a felon is illegal.

Kelley was originally charged in 1994 in Lancaster County for possession of a controlled substance.

He failed to appear at his hearing, was arrested and plea agreements began.

His possession charge was dismissed and in turn, Kelley pleaded guilty to felony failure to appear, for which he served five months in jail.

As for the child abuse allegations, Ritnour said the presentence investigation showed that Kelley had no remorse for his actions.

When given the opportunity, Kelley chose not to make any further comments to the court.

Bryan said first that he wanted everyone to be aware that, even though the allegations were sexual in nature, he cannot make a ruling on sex offender status and registration because the plea agreement changed the sexual abuse charge to child abuse.

“I guess it’s a good deal for you,” he said to Kelley.

Ritnour later said the reason he had for downgrading to child abuse was to protect the victim from cross-examination.

“This was especially difficult for the victim and her family to suffer through,” he said. “I wanted to save the family from any more suffering.”

For both counts of child abuse, Bryan ruled that Kelley serve five years per count, with 387 days credit for time served, to be served consecutively.

As for the felon firearm charges, Bryan said he has a “firm belief” that Kelley was not trying to cheat the system when he applied for his gun application.

Bryan said Kelley had a hunting license at the time he was in possession of the guns, and assumed Kelley used them for hunting, not committing crimes.

He said he didn’t agree with Ritnour’s claim that Kelley was “arrogant” in filing an application with false information, but doesn’t completely agree with Kelley’s claims either.

“I don’t believe it was completely innocent,” he said.

For the two firearm charges, Bryan sentenced Kelley to five years per count, to be served concurrently, or at the same time.

For the application information charges, Bryan sentenced Kelley to 20 to 60 months.

Bryan said the total time sentenced to be served, up to 20 years, could be cut in half.

Kelley will be eligible for parole at the half way mark on each charge.

“You could do the full time if you lose your good time in the penitentiary,” Bryan warned Kelley.

Kelley was then turned over to the Gage County Sheriff’s Department to start serving his sentence immediately.

Ritnour said he didn’t regret amending the charges for the plea agreement.

“We’re not complaining about the sentence, we just would have liked it to be longer,” he said. “The judge had the opportunity to sentence him to up to 55 years. He chose not to do that. I regret that the sentence is not the full 55 years.”