Kelly gets 68 months in prison for death of local musician

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Adam Michael Kelly was sentenced to 68 months in prison for the death of local musician Jarrod Bramson in Jefferson County Superior Court Thursday.

Kelly was arraigned in 2019 on a controlled substance homicide felony charge after prosectors alleged he provided drugs to Bramson and then left him in a car in the parking lot of Jefferson Healthcare after Bramson had suffered an overdose.

Bramson, 43, was discovered by Jefferson Health Care Center medical personnel at the hospital in his vehicle March 27, 2019.

After his arrest, Kelly was charged in April 2019 with six counts of sale, delivery or possession with intent to sell or deliver a “legend drug” in a school zone.

Kelly’s trial had been scheduled to start July 20.

But earlier this month, he entered an “Alford plea,” in which he denied committing the crime but acknowledged a jury would find him guilty.

The case has drawn intense public interest.

Nearly 20 spectators lined up early Thursday afternoon to get a seat in the courtroom, where space was limited due to social distancing requirements stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

That number grew to more than 40 before the scheduled 2:30 p.m. start of the sentencing hearing.

Seating — individual chairs spaced 6 feet apart in five rows — was available for 39 members of the public. The seating area filled up 10 minutes after the courtroom was opened to the public, and after all the seats were filled more than a dozen other people lined the back wall of the courtroom.

Seven members of Bramson's family came to the sentencing, with some taking the chance to confront Kelly while telling Superior Court Judge Keith C. Harper about how Bramson's death had shattered their lives.

"You killed my baby," said Cindy Mangutz, Bramson's mother.

Kelly never looked over at her.

Friends and family said Bramson had never taken heroin before, and they said Kelly had intentionally injected Bramson with a dose that was twice the amount that would have been fatal to a regular heroin user. Kelly had been angry, they said, at Bramson's wife because she had told Kelly's wife to leave Kelly because of his abusive behavior and drug use.

His family and friends recalled Bramson as an inspiring and loving man, a talented musician, and "the coolest guy ever."

If Kelly had been a real friend to Bramson, they said, he would have called 911 instead of leaving Bramson dead in his own car, left in a remote spot outside the hospital's ER that couldn't be seen by staff.

The sentiment was echoed by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chris Ashcraft, who asked for a sentence at the top end of the 51- to 68-month range.

"He didn't call 911. He didn't take the actions that possibly could have saved Bramson's life," Ashcraft said.

Ashcraft noted that Kelly had a long-running drug lab "where he appeared to be making an exorbitant amount of money" and didn't want to face the consequences of getting caught.

Kelly's lawyer, public defender Richard Llewellyn Davies, asked that Kelly be granted a waiver as a first-time offender, and noted that Kelly was going to enter a plea on pending weapons and drug charges in federal court, where he will face a sentence of 66 months.

Davies said Kelly was seeking treatment for his drug addiction.

"Once he's in federal court, there's no looking back," Davies said.

Judge Harper said he would not consider what may happen in federal court, however.

Harper said he saw two themes in the case.

"One is the extraordinary and remarkable impact that Mr. Bramson had on so many people, family members and the community," Harper said.

"I never met him," the judge added. "I frankly had not heard of him until this happened. Not very many people when they pass away are spoken of as highly as Mr. Bramson has been described. For me, that's quite impressive. It's quite extraordinary the support ... at different levels of this community, from all kinds of different people, and how all of those people and family members, and so forth, feel the loss that they do."

Harper also noted how Bramson was treated by Kelly as he neared death that March night in 2019.

"But the second theme to me is the way that Mr. Bramson was treated after he apparently was overcome by heroin or whatever it was that he ended up taking," he added.

Kelly had opportunities to call 911, the judge said, or to contact staff when Bramson was brought to the hospital.

"It seems to me like there were a number of opportunities where Mr. Kelly could have made different decisions," Harper said.

Harper then repeatedly shook his head.

"That's quite extraordinary. Also very remarkable and very tragic,” Harper said.

Kelly stared briefly at the judge while Harper spoke, then stared for several long moments out the window of the other side of the courtroom, before turning his head back to the judge's bench.

As Kelly was led from the courtroom in red handcuffs, and shackles on his ankles, Bramson's friends and family gathered in small groups and shared tearful hugs.