Jury returns guilty verdict in Kelso case; reduced conviction handed down

By Jerry Sena

jtsena@wataugademocrat.com

Amos Patrick Kelso, facing 50-80 years on four felony sex and assault charges, will spend 41 days in jail for the sexual battery of a 21-year-old Appalachian State University student.

Kelso was acquitted of three of the felonies, attempted first-degree sex offense, first-degree sex offense, and assault by strangulation.

In its sole conviction, the jury lowered the first-degree rape charge to sexual battery, a misdemeanor.

After a short penalty hearing, Judge Jerry Cash Martin gave Kelso the maximum 75-day sentence, but the 28-year-old former marine was given credit for 34 days served immediately following his arrest in Dec. 2004.

Martin said he’d also be required to register with the state’s sex offender tracking system.

The jury had heard a week-and-a-half of testimony and deliberated some 10 hours before emerging from the jury room about 12:30 Friday.

Their verdict came with a preamble. Martin accommodated the jury's “rather unusual request” to have a message read into the record before announcing their decision before the court.

“Words cannot convey the breadth and depth of our sympathy for all participants involved,” read the note.

The message, Martin suggested, was that the jury was feeling all the weight of their responsibility toward both families.

Both victim and defendant had been supported by a small group of friends and family, most of whom had attended every day of court. They had waited those 10 or so hours of jury deliberation chatting and  re-reading newspapers in the hardwood seats of courtroom A.

They sat quietly as the clerk polled the jury on their decision. Martin had warned spectators to refrain from reacting to the verdict  in front of the jury.

When it was clear he would only be convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Kelso's attorneys, Scott Casey and Lisa Dubs, smiled at their client and gave him a congratulatory pat.

The victim's family sat silently, some sobbing, some expressionless.

In the penalty hearing, the victim read a passionate account of her experiences in the 14 months since the night of the crime.

The events and the aftermath of that night, she said, would “last the rest of my life. It will serve as a marker in my life – before and after” the assault.

Martin cited three DWIs on Kelso's record as aggravating factors in handing down the maximum sentence.

Following the hearing, Kelso was taken into custody and walked across the street to the Watauga County Jail where he was to begin serving the remaining 41 days of his sentence.