Tennessee
Former state senator reports to federal prison for campaign finance scheme
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former Tennessee state senator has reported to federal prison after he pleaded guilty in 2022 to an illegal campaign finance scheme, then tried and failed to take back his plea.
Brian Kelsey is now an inmate at FCI Ashland in Kentucky, according to a federal Bureau of Prisons database. The Republican was ordered to arrive at the prison’s minimum security satellite camp Monday for a 21-month sentence.
Kelsey, 47, pleaded guilty in November 2022 to charges related to his attempts to funnel campaign money from his state legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid.
After his October 2021 indictment, Kelsey deemed the case a witch hunt and blamed the Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden. But when a co-defendant pleaded guilty the following October, Kelsey quickly did the same.
Afterward, Kelsey was unsuccessful in his March 2023 attempt to rescind the guilty plea.
Kelsey argued he should be allowed to go back on his guilty plea because he entered it with an “unsure heart and a confused mind” due to events in his personal life; he and his wife were caring for twin sons born in September 2022, and his father had terminal pancreatic cancer, then died in February 2023.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Nashville denied the change of plea in May 2023. He expressed disbelief that Kelsey, a Georgetown University-educated attorney and prominent former state senator, didn’t understand the gravity of pleading guilty.
Crenshaw later denied another challenge in which Kelsey accused prosecutors of violating his plea agreement. However, that September the judge also allowed Kelsey to stay out of prison until his appeal was decided. Kelsey’s challenge ultimately failed.
Last week, Crenshaw denied another motion to remain free by Kelsey, who argued he had ineffective legal counsel and that his claim of innocence is supported by recordings by two key witnesses — the co-defendant, Joshua Smith, and former GOP Rep. Jeremy Durham, who was not charged. The judge responded that Kelsey had given an “unconditional admission of guilt” under penalty of perjury.
Kelsey has again appealed.
“The law does not require a defendant to remain incarcerated while his conviction unravels under the weight of constitutional violations and government misconduct,” his attorneys wrote in the appeal to the 6th Circuit.
Smith, a Nashville social club owner, pleaded guilty to one count under a deal that required him to “cooperate fully and truthfully.” He was sentenced to five years of probation.
The indictment alleges that Kelsey, Smith and others illegally concealed the transfer of $91,000 — $66,000 from Kelsey’s state Senate campaign committee and $25,000 from a nonprofit that advocated about legal justice issues — to a national political organization to fund advertisements urging support of Kelsey’s 2016 failed congressional campaign. The scheme caused the political group to file false campaign finance reports and make illegal, excessive campaign contributions to Kelsey, the indictment says.
The indictment resembles a 2017 complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice by a nonprofit, the Campaign Legal Center, which named the American Conservative Union as making coordinated independent expenditures with Kelsey’s campaign. The American Conservative Union has said it has cooperated with investigators.
“Today marks an important moment in reassuring voters that the justice system protects their interests and that elected officials are not above the law,” said Shanna Ports, Campaign Legal Center’s senior legal counsel for campaign finance.
Kelsey, an attorney from Germantown, was first elected to the General Assembly in 2004 as a state representative. He was later elected to the Senate in 2009. He didn’t seek reelection in 2022.
Kelsey served as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees changes to civil and criminal laws, judicial proceedings and more. His law license was suspended in 2022 after his guilty plea.
Mississippi
City drops lawsuit over editorial that judge ordered removed from paper’s website
A Mississippi city dropped its lawsuit Monday against a newspaper that had its editorial criticizing local leaders removed by a judge in a case that sparked widespread outrage from First Amendment advocates.
The city of Clarksdale’s board of commissioners sought to dismiss its libel lawsuit against The Clarksdale Press Register, filing the request moments after its board of commissioners approved the move.
The judge in the case must still dismiss her order that the editorial be removed from the paper’s website, which the city also asked her to do. She had originally set a hearing for Thursday in the case.
“It’s still very, very wrong what they did and it awakened the entire First Amendment community nationally, which is very encouraging,” said Wyatt Emmerich, president of Emmerich Newspapers, the parent company of the paper. “I’m really excited to see how all these people rallied around us to protect our rights.”
Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin issued the restraining order against the Press Register last week in connection with a Feb. 8 editorial titled “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust.” The piece criticized the city for not sending the newspaper notice about a meeting the City Council held regarding a proposed tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco.
Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy told The Associated Press he asked commissioners to drop the lawsuit because of an offer Emmerich made to write a clarification. Emmerich, however, said that offer was made before the lawsuit was filed and the judge’s order, and is “off the table.”
The city’s request to the court doesn’t mention the offer.
“I am very thankful that this matter is now resolved due to the efforts of the owner of the Clarksdale Press Register and the city of Clarksdale,” Espy told the board before it voted to drop the suit. “I’m grateful for the compromise.”
The newspaper’s owner had offered to clarify that the council said the lack of notification wasn’t a deliberate attempt to hide the meeting, according to a text message he had sent to the city attorney. The text also offered to clarify that a sentence questioning whether there was “kick-back from the community” should have said “push back.”
The order was widely criticized by multiple media and free speech advocacy groups, including the National Press Club and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Former state senator reports to federal prison for campaign finance scheme
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former Tennessee state senator has reported to federal prison after he pleaded guilty in 2022 to an illegal campaign finance scheme, then tried and failed to take back his plea.
Brian Kelsey is now an inmate at FCI Ashland in Kentucky, according to a federal Bureau of Prisons database. The Republican was ordered to arrive at the prison’s minimum security satellite camp Monday for a 21-month sentence.
Kelsey, 47, pleaded guilty in November 2022 to charges related to his attempts to funnel campaign money from his state legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid.
After his October 2021 indictment, Kelsey deemed the case a witch hunt and blamed the Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden. But when a co-defendant pleaded guilty the following October, Kelsey quickly did the same.
Afterward, Kelsey was unsuccessful in his March 2023 attempt to rescind the guilty plea.
Kelsey argued he should be allowed to go back on his guilty plea because he entered it with an “unsure heart and a confused mind” due to events in his personal life; he and his wife were caring for twin sons born in September 2022, and his father had terminal pancreatic cancer, then died in February 2023.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Nashville denied the change of plea in May 2023. He expressed disbelief that Kelsey, a Georgetown University-educated attorney and prominent former state senator, didn’t understand the gravity of pleading guilty.
Crenshaw later denied another challenge in which Kelsey accused prosecutors of violating his plea agreement. However, that September the judge also allowed Kelsey to stay out of prison until his appeal was decided. Kelsey’s challenge ultimately failed.
Last week, Crenshaw denied another motion to remain free by Kelsey, who argued he had ineffective legal counsel and that his claim of innocence is supported by recordings by two key witnesses — the co-defendant, Joshua Smith, and former GOP Rep. Jeremy Durham, who was not charged. The judge responded that Kelsey had given an “unconditional admission of guilt” under penalty of perjury.
Kelsey has again appealed.
“The law does not require a defendant to remain incarcerated while his conviction unravels under the weight of constitutional violations and government misconduct,” his attorneys wrote in the appeal to the 6th Circuit.
Smith, a Nashville social club owner, pleaded guilty to one count under a deal that required him to “cooperate fully and truthfully.” He was sentenced to five years of probation.
The indictment alleges that Kelsey, Smith and others illegally concealed the transfer of $91,000 — $66,000 from Kelsey’s state Senate campaign committee and $25,000 from a nonprofit that advocated about legal justice issues — to a national political organization to fund advertisements urging support of Kelsey’s 2016 failed congressional campaign. The scheme caused the political group to file false campaign finance reports and make illegal, excessive campaign contributions to Kelsey, the indictment says.
The indictment resembles a 2017 complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice by a nonprofit, the Campaign Legal Center, which named the American Conservative Union as making coordinated independent expenditures with Kelsey’s campaign. The American Conservative Union has said it has cooperated with investigators.
“Today marks an important moment in reassuring voters that the justice system protects their interests and that elected officials are not above the law,” said Shanna Ports, Campaign Legal Center’s senior legal counsel for campaign finance.
Kelsey, an attorney from Germantown, was first elected to the General Assembly in 2004 as a state representative. He was later elected to the Senate in 2009. He didn’t seek reelection in 2022.
Kelsey served as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees changes to civil and criminal laws, judicial proceedings and more. His law license was suspended in 2022 after his guilty plea.
Mississippi
City drops lawsuit over editorial that judge ordered removed from paper’s website
A Mississippi city dropped its lawsuit Monday against a newspaper that had its editorial criticizing local leaders removed by a judge in a case that sparked widespread outrage from First Amendment advocates.
The city of Clarksdale’s board of commissioners sought to dismiss its libel lawsuit against The Clarksdale Press Register, filing the request moments after its board of commissioners approved the move.
The judge in the case must still dismiss her order that the editorial be removed from the paper’s website, which the city also asked her to do. She had originally set a hearing for Thursday in the case.
“It’s still very, very wrong what they did and it awakened the entire First Amendment community nationally, which is very encouraging,” said Wyatt Emmerich, president of Emmerich Newspapers, the parent company of the paper. “I’m really excited to see how all these people rallied around us to protect our rights.”
Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin issued the restraining order against the Press Register last week in connection with a Feb. 8 editorial titled “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust.” The piece criticized the city for not sending the newspaper notice about a meeting the City Council held regarding a proposed tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco.
Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy told The Associated Press he asked commissioners to drop the lawsuit because of an offer Emmerich made to write a clarification. Emmerich, however, said that offer was made before the lawsuit was filed and the judge’s order, and is “off the table.”
The city’s request to the court doesn’t mention the offer.
“I am very thankful that this matter is now resolved due to the efforts of the owner of the Clarksdale Press Register and the city of Clarksdale,” Espy told the board before it voted to drop the suit. “I’m grateful for the compromise.”
The newspaper’s owner had offered to clarify that the council said the lack of notification wasn’t a deliberate attempt to hide the meeting, according to a text message he had sent to the city attorney. The text also offered to clarify that a sentence questioning whether there was “kick-back from the community” should have said “push back.”
The order was widely criticized by multiple media and free speech advocacy groups, including the National Press Club and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
