Unusually stiff sentence for an abusive father. Normally dads like GEOFFREY SCOTT KELLY would get much less. Maybe because he had threatened cops before with a hammer....
http://m.redding.com/news/2012/jan/13/father-gets-life-for-bat-attack-on-son-8/
Father gets life for bat attack on son, 8; Redding resident pleads no contest
A Redding man accused of nearly killing his young son by hitting him in the head with a baseball bat last year was sentenced Friday to life in prison after pleading no contest to premeditated attempted murder.
Geoffrey Scott Kelly, 54, who was scheduled to start standing trial next week on attempted murder, child abuse and other charges, entered his no contest plea to the felony attempted murder count during a trial readiness conference. A series of other criminal counts and enhancements against Kelly, including one claiming he caused great bodily injury, including brain injury and paralysis, were subsequently dismissed.
Kelly's Redding defense attorney, Adam Ryan, said his client will be eligible for parole in about seven years.
But Deputy District Attorney Curtis Woods said the state parole board has never before released a person sentenced to a life prison term. Kelly, who earlier had been deemed mentally competent to stand trial, is scheduled to return to Shasta County Superior Court on Thursday for a hearing to determine his jail custody credits, according to electronic court records.
"After a great deal of reflection, Mr. Kelly realized the need to accept responsibility for his actions, and certainly wanted to avoid having to put the victim through testifying in a jury trial," Ryan wrote in an email Friday.
Woods said, however, he had not intended to call the boy as a trial witnesses, noting the child was asleep when he was attacked by his father.
"He doesn't even know what happened to him," he said.
Kelly was arrested on Jan. 5, 2011, after being accused of hitting his then 8-year-old son at least twice with an aluminum baseball bat while he was sleeping.
Redding police officers were called to Kelly's California Street apartment after receiving reports of a bleeding and unconscious boy who had been attacked.
Kelly's son, whose name has been withheld, suffered critical injuries in the attack, but is no longer hospitalized, continues to slowly recover and has returned to school, Woods said.
Still, prosecutors have said it could be months before the full effects of his injuries are known.
According to a Redding police report, Kelly declined to answer a number of questions following last year's attack, but admitted he had hit his son twice.
When asked why, the police report said, Kelly said he did not know.
"I lost it," he told police. "I just lost it."
Before the attack, Kelly told his wife, identified as Heather Sieglock, he believed the Mafia was out to get him, the police report said.
Sieglock also told police Kelly had been "acting weird the last couple of days," and suffered from hepatitis, pancreatitis and osteoporosis, the police report said.
She said her husband had tried to kill himself a year earlier, shoving a knife into his chest during a confrontation with police in which he was arrested for threatening officers with a hammer.
But Sieglock said Kelly had never before shown violence toward her or their son.
Geoffrey Scott Kelly, 54, who was scheduled to start standing trial next week on attempted murder, child abuse and other charges, entered his no contest plea to the felony attempted murder count during a trial readiness conference. A series of other criminal counts and enhancements against Kelly, including one claiming he caused great bodily injury, including brain injury and paralysis, were subsequently dismissed.
Kelly's Redding defense attorney, Adam Ryan, said his client will be eligible for parole in about seven years.
But Deputy District Attorney Curtis Woods said the state parole board has never before released a person sentenced to a life prison term. Kelly, who earlier had been deemed mentally competent to stand trial, is scheduled to return to Shasta County Superior Court on Thursday for a hearing to determine his jail custody credits, according to electronic court records.
"After a great deal of reflection, Mr. Kelly realized the need to accept responsibility for his actions, and certainly wanted to avoid having to put the victim through testifying in a jury trial," Ryan wrote in an email Friday.
Woods said, however, he had not intended to call the boy as a trial witnesses, noting the child was asleep when he was attacked by his father.
"He doesn't even know what happened to him," he said.
Kelly was arrested on Jan. 5, 2011, after being accused of hitting his then 8-year-old son at least twice with an aluminum baseball bat while he was sleeping.
Redding police officers were called to Kelly's California Street apartment after receiving reports of a bleeding and unconscious boy who had been attacked.
Kelly's son, whose name has been withheld, suffered critical injuries in the attack, but is no longer hospitalized, continues to slowly recover and has returned to school, Woods said.
Still, prosecutors have said it could be months before the full effects of his injuries are known.
According to a Redding police report, Kelly declined to answer a number of questions following last year's attack, but admitted he had hit his son twice.
When asked why, the police report said, Kelly said he did not know.
"I lost it," he told police. "I just lost it."
Before the attack, Kelly told his wife, identified as Heather Sieglock, he believed the Mafia was out to get him, the police report said.
Sieglock also told police Kelly had been "acting weird the last couple of days," and suffered from hepatitis, pancreatitis and osteoporosis, the police report said.
She said her husband had tried to kill himself a year earlier, shoving a knife into his chest during a confrontation with police in which he was arrested for threatening officers with a hammer.
But Sieglock said Kelly had never before shown violence toward her or their son.
