Teen killer resentenced in 2001 slaying; could be paroled in 16 years
Twenty-one years did nothing to ease the pain in a Cumberland County courtroom Friday as a Fayetteville man was resentenced in a double slaying he committed as a teenager.
In March 2004, James Kelliher, 39, pleaded guilty to the Aug. 7, 2001 killings of Kelsea Helton and Eric Carpenter, both 19. Helton, who was four months pregnant, and Carpenter, were shot inside the young couple's Lake in the Pines apartment off Rosehill Road in a plot to rob Carpenter of drugs and money.
Kelliher, 17 at the time of the murders, claimed that his codefendant Joshua Ballard planned the robbery and shot the couple. Ballard was convicted in 2004 but was granted a new trial by the Court of Appeals and acquitted in August 2008 of all charges.
Kelliher was back in a Cumberland County courtroom on Friday after the North Carolina Supreme Court found that his two consecutive sentences of life with parole — totaling 50 years before any hope of release — served as a de facto life sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court found in 2012 that sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole violated the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. In a separate ruling in an unrelated case that same day, the court ruled that offenders under 18 at the time of their crimes are eligible for parole after 40 years of incarceration.
New sentence
Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons vacated Kelliher’s sentences Friday for conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and two counts of first-degree murder. Then, as directed by the Supreme Court, Ammons sentenced the now-39-year-old man to two life sentences with parole to run concurrent — meaning at the same time. Kelliher was also sentenced to an additional 12 to 14 years in prison on the robbery charges, with a concurrent 25 to 39 months on the conspiracy charge.
Dependent on how the Department of Corrections applies Kelliher’s 21 years of prison time served, he could be eligible for parole in 16 years.
At least 20 Kelliher supporters gathered in the gallery Friday to watch the proceedings. while six of Helton's and Carpenter’s loved ones observed from the jury box, clutching tissues and occasionally weeping when the victims’ names were mentioned.
“This has been a long time coming,” Ammons said, noting he had done extensive research on the case and asked for assistance from members of the North Carolina Judicial Fellowship program, which provides legal support to judges in the state.
Michael Fiala, Kelliher’s defense attorney, requested Ammons sentence his client to two concurrent sentences of life with parole, meaning Kelliher could have been eligible for release as soon as 2026, with credit for time served. He asks that the judge not sentence Kelliher on the robberies and conspiracy.
Assistant District Attorney Rob Thompson asked for Ammons to structure the sentencing so that Kelliher would have to serve at least 35 years in prison before being eligible for parole, just under the maximum 40-year sentence set by the state’s Supreme Court for juveniles. Ammons could do so, Thompson suggested, by sentencing Kelliher to life in prison with parole on the murder charges, then sentencing him on two counts of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
Referencing the children’s book “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” by Laura Numeroff, Thompson argued that Kelliher was asking for too much after already being shown mercy on multiple occasions. Thompson noted that in exchange for Kelliher's plea in 2004, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty at trial.
“This is what the defendant asked for,” Thompson said. “How many times do we have to hand these defendants less than half of what they got and still call it justice?”
In considering how much of Kelliher’s life he had spent in prison, Thompson said, Ammons should also consider the life Kelliher took from his victims.
“Kelliher’s confessed murder of three human beings took 196 combined years of life off this planet,” he said.
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7,901 days of grief
Family members of the victims were given an opportunity to speak before sentencing. Laura Meyers, Carpenter’s sister, first addressed Ammons.
As a mother of two children, Meyers said, she is constantly reminded of not just her own loss, but of her parents’ loss of their son and their grandson that Helton was carrying who would have been named Nathaniel.
“There is never going to be a light at the end of the tunnel in this,” she said.
Meyers said her family’s only comfort had been in seeing Kelliher incarcerated
“It just seems odd to me that their fate was chosen for them, and we’re standing here on behalf of one of the people who chose that,” she said. “For the last 22 years, having had a bit of appropriate justice has been helpful.”
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Helton’s sister, Charisa Carstens Potter, also addressed the court, saying it had been 7,901 days for the families without their loved ones.
“Eric has been in an urn on his parents’ mantel since August 2001,” she said. “There is not a single aspect of our lives that has not been impacted or touched by their deaths.”
Kelliher briefly spoke before his sentencing, apologizing to Helton and Carpenter’s families.
“There’s nothing I can say that would help take the pain away,” he said. “To go on any further would be disrespectful. I’m just completely sorry.”
Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville man resentenced in 2001 double slaying
