Jacob Lee Kelley, 32, of De Soto, a prior offender, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison following felony assault convictions and a probation violation, according to court documents.
On Sept. 23, Jefferson County Div. 5 Circuit Judge Victor J. Melenbrink executed a 15-year sentence and a 10-year sentence Kelley previously was sentenced to stemming from a 2014 in De Soto. The two sentences will be served consecutively, for a total of 25 years, court records show.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Douglas S. Pribble handled the case.
In June 2014, Kelley and another defendant, Melinda Warden, 33, of De Soto, were in an alley in the 800 block of North Second Street in De Soto fighting with neighbors over the location of a trash can, and Kelley allegedly got a wooden bat and struck a man in the back with it and a woman in the face with it, causing the woman to fall to the ground, the probable-cause statement said.
While the female victim was on the ground, Warden kicked her in the head. Warden also punched victims during the fight, the report said.
The female victim was critically injured and transported to an area hospital where she had surgery for a brain bleed and fractured skull, according to the report.
Kelley pleaded guilty to two counts of felony second-degree assault. In July 2016, Jefferson County Div. 3 Circuit Judge Nathan B. Stewart sentenced him to 15 years for one of the assault charges and 10 years for the other one, with the terms to be served consecutively, for a total of 25 years. However, Kelley was released in September 2017 after completing a long-term treatment program and was placed on five years’ probation, court records show.
Kelley previously was convicted of felony stealing stemming from a July 2004 incident in Ste. Genevieve County and felony forgery tied to an October 2006 incident in Jefferson County.
He currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.
Warden was sentenced in September 2015 to seven years in prison in connection with the incident. She currently is on probation, court records indicate.