June 11, 2018 at 5:16 p.m.
Welsh granted DEJ in terrorist threat case
Deal spares 62-year-old additional incarceration
Welsh granted DEJ in terrorist threat case
Kenneth S. Welsh entered a no contest plea Friday to one count of recklessly making a terrorist threat, which did not require admitting guilt, and was sentenced to probation.
According to the criminal complaint, Welsh is accused of making a threatening statement on April 18 just a week after circuit judge Michael Bloom sentenced him to probation in connection with a 2016 criminal case. Welsh was sentenced to three years probation April 11, after pleading no contest to one count of causing injury by negligent use of a dangerous weapon in connection with a 2016 standoff with police. In that case, Welsh's wife, Mary Butler, shot Welsh in the shoulder and he shot at a car she was operating as it was backing away from the house. He then threatened to use propane to blow up the house if law enforcement approached.
The couple were in the process of losing their home and that is what triggered Welsh, Butler told deputies at the time.
In January 2017, Welsh was sentenced to three years in prison on the negligent injury charge but a resentencing was ordered after an error was discovered in his plea paperwork.
Because Welsh spent 723 days in prison before accepting a second plea agreement, it was determined his credit for time served was equal to the maximum possible sentence in that case. However, he was ordered to serve three years probation.
According to the criminal complaint in the new case, social workers called Welsh's probation officer on April 19 after he allegedly told them "you all know if this appeal goes any way but favorable to Mary, I will wreak havoc on you all," after the couple were informed that the contracted workers would no longer provide hospice services to his wife because of possible "misuse of medication."
He also allegedly said "my probation officer knows about this, so I have to be careful of what I say," according to the testimony of one of the deputies who investigated the alleged threat.
Welsh's probation officer ordered him put on a hold and he was arrested after a traffic stop near his Harshaw home. He made his initial appearance before Bloom on April 20.
For at least part of April 19, Ascension St. Mary's Hospital implemented heightened security measures because Butler's doctor is based there and there was some concern Welsh may come there.
During the May 31 preliminary hearing in the case, district attorney Michael Schiek called Oneida County Sheriff's sergeant Brian Erikson to testify about his role in the investigation.
Erikson testified that the social workers were aware of Welsh's past but could not reach his probation officer until the day after the call. He could not say if Butler had appealed the decision to terminate her care and, if so, where that process stood.
Under cross-examination, Erikson admitted there is no recording of the phone call between Welsh and the social worker who reported the threat.
Defense attorney Mary Roth Burns also pointed out that the social workers weren't so concerned that they were prompted to contact police immediately. Instead, they opted to wait to speak to Welsh's probation officer, knowing it could get him arrested, she said. She also pointed out that neither Welsh nor Butler initiated the call.
"He did not call them to threaten them, did he?" Roth Burns asked, to which Erikson replied in the negative.
However, at no point during his testimony did Erikson identify Welsh in the courtroom, a standard procedure at a preliminary hearing. Roth Burns disclosed the error in a motion filed June 7 challenging Judge Patrick O'Melia's decision to bind Welsh over for trial on the threat charge.
Welsh was back in court Friday for arraignment on the charge but instead the parties announced a plea agreement had been reached.
In exchange for a no contest plea to the recklessly making a terrorist threat charge, a delayed entry of judgment agreement was entered that will run the same two years as the remaining probation in the other case.
O'Melia ordered the delayed entry of judgment and set the matter for a review hearing in one year.
Before the hearing began, Roth Burns and Schiek both said the failure to have Erikson identify Welsh likely would have resulted in the charge being dismissed, however it would have been a temporary victory as Schiek could refile the charge and start over.
While the charge Welsh pled to was the same level felony as the previous charge, and carries a maximum penalty of up to three years, six months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, Roth Burns said the end result was that her client could walk out of jail later that afternoon instead of facing trial and/or additional jail time.
Roth Burns also noted that Welsh's comments were said out of frustration about the situation and thus a change in charges was warranted, as she alleged in her motion.
"There are people here in the courthouse who feel he was just desperate," Roth Burns said. "He's still desperate."
Schiek said resolving the case through a DEJ was not out of the ordinary, even for someone with Welsh's criminal history since the conviction from the 2016 incident was the only major entry on his record.
If Welsh's probation is revoked in the future, the deferred entry of judgment could also be revoked, which would expose him to the full potential sentence.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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