Image Credit: Brian Kelsey / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
An emergency motion that would allow former State Senator Brian Kelsey to avoid jail time was denied by a federal judge on Tuesday.
Kelsey was sentenced to 21 months in jail in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of campaign violations, one for conspiracy to fraud the United States and the second for aiding and abetting the acceptance of funds in excess of federal limitations.
He was originally indicted on five counts for allegedly funneling money to his failed 2016 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives.
At the time, Kelsey acknowledged that he had moved money through his state Senate campaign account to two political action committees who then purchased advertisements supporting his Congressional bid. It is illegal to use state campaign funds for a federal campaign.
In 2023, Kelsey tried to withdraw that guilty plea, citing a lack of experience with the criminal justice system and saying he was “confused” after his twin sons were born and his father was dying.
The courts, however, stated that they did not believe that Kelsey, who was a lawyer and had served as chair of the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee during his nearly twenty years as a state senator, did not understand how the law worked.
They also noted that two of the five attorneys who had represented Kelsey has previously served as U.S. Attorneys for the Middle District and would have been able to ensure that he was fully aware of the “gravity of entering a guilty plea.”
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Kelsey’s request to have his guilty plea reversed. Kelsey claimed that the U.S. Department of Justice had coerced a witness into providing false testimony against him.
Kelsey had previously been allowed to remain on release from custody as he went through the appeals process, but that permission expired in January when the Sixth Circuit Court upheld his sentence.
Kelsey is set to report to Ashland Satellite Camp in Kentucky on Monday.
