Ex-Senator Brian Kelsey Behind Bars, Awaiting Plea Decision
Brian Kelsey, a former Republican state senator hailing from Shelby County, Tennessee, now finds himself behind bars. As he serves his sentence in a federal detention facility, his legal team is making diligent efforts to retract his conviction. In related political events, there was considerable advancement in the Tennessee Senate on legislation aimed at imposing stricter penalties on those found guilty of barricading roadways. Simultaneously, concerns about potential violations of First Amendment rights arose. Meanwhile, the University of Memphis announced a new addition to its law enforcement arm – a K-9 unit christened after regal Egyptian nomenclature.
Ex-Senator Kelsey is enduring his custodial sentence at FCI Ashland, a low-security federal correctional institution in Ashland, Kentucky. The Bureau of Prisons confirmed this information. Kelsey, in a desperate bid to evade incarceration, filed a series of motions towards the end of January. These included a motion to vacate his plea deal, on which his lawyers are currently working.
Amidst multiple motions, Kelsey also pleaded to maintain his freedom whilst his motion to vacate was under review. However, he had exhausted the limit on his appeals. In order to be granted release during the argumentation phase, Kelsey had to demonstrate extraordinary circumstances, but he failed to do so.
The U.S. District Court Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee, Waverly Crenshaw Jr., who pronounced against Kelsey’s motion, mentioned that remarkable circumstances could include severe illness of the prisoner, the prisoner having committed a minor offense and serving a minimal term, or instances where there is a vast delay in processing the habeas petition. Crenshaw clearly stated none of these conditions applied to Kelsey’s case.
Kelsey’s plea did not revolve around any of the special circumstances Judge Crenshaw mentioned. Instead, it alleged that there had been an unusual act of misconduct by the government, involving the concealment of what Kelsey argued were potentially exonerating recordings. He also claimed that since he hadn’t broken the law as outlined in his plea deal, the court should release him while considering his motion to vacate.
Judge Crenshaw rebutted, stating that he didn’t find any extraordinary circumstances in the arguments presented by Kelsey. He also dismissed Kelsey’s contentions, commenting that even if parts of his argument could be considered for release, they were fundamentally incorrect. Kelsey was ultimately sentenced to 21 months in federal prison, despite sentencing guidelines suggesting a period of 33 to 41 months. It should be noted that the federal system does not offer parole.
Judge Crenshaw emphasized that regardless of Kelsey’s claims of misconduct by the prosecutor, these wouldn’t qualify as extraordinary circumstances since he had willingly admitted his guilt. Crenshaw concluded that irrespective of the nature of the withheld recordings, their late disclosure did not cancel Kelsey’s guilty plea or detract from his acknowledged factual basis of plea agreement.
In the legislative arena, a bill to escalate the penalties for obstruction of roadways made progress in the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee. Introduced by Brent Taylor, a Republican state senator from Shelby County, the bill was conceived in response to protests against the Israel-Hamas War, which led to the closure of the Interstate 40 bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas in February 2024.
If enacted, the bill would elevate blocking roadways to a Class E felony. Amendments to the bill saw the exclusion of passages, doorways, and hallways, shifting it to a focal point on intersections and bridges exclusively. When the question of whether someone arrested under this law would lose the right to vote was raised, Taylor clarified that the proposed legislation did not criminalize protests, rather it penalized obstructing roads.
Following a strictly party-line vote in the committee, Taylor further elucidated on social media that this law would also target individuals causing disruptions in intersections or on highways for reckless activities such as doing doughnuts in their vehicles.
From an educational perspective, the University of Memphis has made an exciting new addition to its security apparatus. The university has recruited its first K-9 member, a Belgian Shepherd named Pharaoh. Pharaoh, aged 16 months, was named through a democratic process involving polling.
Pharaoh has been trained comprehensively to serve dual functions: conducting thorough searches and detection. The University’s Chief of Police asserts that the new K-9 unit has undergone six weeks of exhaustive training and will play a pivotal role in enhancing the university’s overall safety.
The overarching objective of introducing this K-9 unit, as per the University of Memphis, is to augment campus security, foster community engagement and educational initiatives, as well as to present a safer milieu for students, faculty and staff. Pharaoh’s presence is anticipated to diminish incidents of theft, assault, and other crimes.