Former state Sen. Brian Kelsey sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal campaign violations

A federal judge on Friday sentenced former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey to 21 months in prison for campaign finance violations, a case Kelsey once referred to as a "witch hunt" before pleading guilty to two felonies last fall.

In an unusual decision earlier this year, Kelsey attempted to take back that guilty plea, proclaiming his innocence in a May hearing that left a federal judge unconvinced and provoked prosecutors to push for a longer sentence than they initially sought.

Kelsey, R-Germantown, pleaded guilty to illegally shuffling money from his state campaign account through several political action committees to pay the American Conservative Union for political advertising spots benefiting his failed 2016 congressional campaign.

U.S. District Court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., also ordered Kelsey to three years of supervised release after his 21-month sentence.

Henry C. Leventis, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, told reporters Friday the sentence sends a strong message that "federal election laws are not to be trifled with."

"His actions were willful, deliberate and directly contrary to advice he was given by political advisers and an attorney," Leventis said. "These were not isolated errors in judgment. Brian Kelsey's crimes were calculated, they were complex, they were multifaceted and they denied Tennesseans the right to transparency, which would allow them to make informed decisions about their vote."

Kelsey's friends and family packed the courtroom on Friday, with several testifying to in support of his character.

While Kelsey, 45, was initially scheduled for sentencing in March, he filed a Hail Mary-motion shortly before the hearing to request to change his plea. Kelsey, in court filings and in a May hearing, argued stress in his personal life led him to make a rash decision to plead guilty last fall, even though he privately maintained he was innocent of the charges.

Kelsey, the one-time chairman and gatekeeper of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, said he did not fully comprehend the consequences of pleading guilty to a criminal felony and was of unsound mind when he accepted the plea deal due to personal stressors.

Federal prosecutors and the judge didn't buy the Georgetown-trained lawyer was naïve to the circumstances, with prosecutors calling him a "highly sophisticated" criminal defendant and the judge refusing to allow him to rescind his plea.

Ahead of the Friday sentencing hearing, prosecutors tapped an obstruction of justice classification to bump up Kelsey's proposed sentencing range, from which they recommended the judge give Kelsey's the maximum possible sentence.

"I am sorry that I made this mistake, and I will always regret it," Kelsey said in a statement following his sentencing. "I am sorry for letting down my constituents and the public."

Kelsey will likely report to federal prison in October. He requested to serve his sentence in West Virginia.

Jeremy Durham received non-prosecution agreement in Kelsey's case

The Department of Justice gave former Tennessee Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, a non-prosecution agreement for his role in the campaign finance scheme, prosecutors revealed in court on Friday.

A series of new filings from Kelsey's attorneys in recent days revealed grand jury testimony from Durham, who was a close friend of Kelsey at the time. The state House expelled Durham in 2016 for alleged sexual misconduct.

Durham was present at a July 2016 dinner at The Standard, a Nashville restaurant, when Kelsey cut a $106,000 check to Standard owner Josh Smith. Prosecutors alleged Durham became more deeply involved in Kelsey's campaign finances amid his own political troubles.

Kelsey's attorney Alex Little pointed to a lack of a sentence for Durham and Andy Miller, unindicted co-conspirators in the case, as a reason Kelsey should not serve prison time.

"He never should have given money to the Standard, and he knows he shouldn't have trusted Jeremy Durham," Little said.

Prosecutors said Durham and Miller cooperated with the government through the investigation, and Smith showed remorse in a guilty plea last fall. Smith was sentenced Friday to a $250,000 fine and community service.

Meanwhile, Kelsey once referred to the investigation as a partisan "political witch hunt" and continued to deny any wrongdoing.

"His defiance now shows a remarkable lack of respect for the law," prosecutor John Taddei said.

Remorse was a through-line of some of Crenshaw's questioning on Friday, as the judge said the only contrition Kelsey had shown was in his guilty plea he later claimed was a mistake.

In asking for a probation or home-confinement sentence, Kelsey said he was "truly sorry" for his actions.

"I knew I was taking a risk and that was on the line of what was legal and illegal," Kelsey said. "It's a decision I'm going to regret for the rest of my life."

Leventis thanked the federal prosecutors and FBI agents who worked the case against Kelsey. He said their professionalism in the light of Kelsey's efforts to "deny, avoid and delay accountability" were essential.

"It's better late than never for you to express some respect for the law here," Crenshaw said.

Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Brian Kelsey sentencing: Former Tennessee Senator to serve prison time