MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has sided with the government over former Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey’s challenge to his 21-month sentence for violating federal campaign finance laws.
Brian Kelsey, a Republican, was supposed to report to federal prison in October 2023, but U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw agreed to let him remain free while his legal team appealed the prison term to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Kelsey received his sentence in August 2023 in the case centering on his attempts to funnel campaign money from his legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid.
Kelsey had originally pleaded not guilty, often saying he was being targeted by Democrats. But he changed his mind shortly after his co-defendant, Nashville social club owner Joshua Smith, pleaded guilty to one count under a deal that required him to "cooperate fully and truthfully" with federal authorities. Smith was sentenced to five years of probation.
In March 2023, Kelsey argued he should be allowed to go back on his November 2022 guilty plea because he entered it with an "unsure heart and a confused mind" due to events in his personal life; his father had terminal pancreatic cancer, then died in February, and he and his wife were caring for twin sons born in September. Crenshaw denied the change of plea in May.
In the sentencing hearing in August 2023, Kelsey’s attorney, Alex Little, argued that federal prosecutors violated Kelsey's plea agreement when they pushed for a harsher sentence after he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea. Prosecutors countered that Kelsey broke his deal first when he tried to back out of his guilty plea, and that a harsher sentencing would have been appropriate, but they ultimately chose not to seek the tougher sentence.
In its opinion affirming the sentence, the Sixth Court of Appeals said Kelsey’s counsel failed to object to a purported breach of the agreement by the government during the sentencing hearing. They said this meant they were looking at a “plain-error review,” and said Kelsey could not show prejudice, having received a shorter sentence than the guidelines of his plea agreement.
“The government’s response was an appropriate argument regarding an enhancement as to which the court had specifically inquired. Indeed, the government could hardly have responded otherwise to the court’s inquiry. The argument about which Kelsey now complains was therefore permissible under the plea agreement’s plain terms,” wrote Circuit Court Judge Raymond Kethledge.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
