Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Hours after Rickey John Kelley took the stand in his defense, a jury acquitted the Warrington Township man of the most serious charges he was facing for shooting his ex-girlfriend's husband, who was her new boyfriend at the time.
After about two hours of deliberation Wednesday, the 33-year-old defendant caught his breath and lowered his head with a sigh of relief as the jury read verdicts of not guilty of attempted first-degree homicide, not guilty of aggravated assault and not guilty of one count of simple assault.
He was convicted of lesser charges of simple assault and reckless endangerment for firing two shots from his .22 pistol out his window as the new couple stood outside his home, an action for which Kelley's public defender invoked the state's Castle Doctrine.
While Common Pleas Judge Michael E. Bortner informed jurors about the Castle Doctrine, a law that gives people the right to use deadly force to repel intruders, it's not clear whether or how heavily it factored in their decision.
Dismissed jurors could not be found for comment.
The case: The prosecution, led by York County District Attorney's Office Deputy Prosecutor R.J. Fisher, argued that Kelley knew that his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, Jacob Kiraly, were coming to Kelley's home at 950 Kunkle Mill Road on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2013, to exchange personal belongings.
By the prosecution's account, Ashley Barlow (now Ashley Kiraly) and Jacob Kiraly showed up and, though it appeared nobody was home, knocked on the door and banged on a bedroom air-conditioner to solicit a response.
That's when Kelley, the jilted lover, pushed out the air conditioner and starting shooting at Kiraly, according to the prosecution.
A different account: But public defender Joshua Neiderhiser's defense painted a different picture, one in which Kelley had refused the property exchange and was actively trying to avoid the couple.
Kelley testified that he was sleeping to prepare for a night shift when the couple apparently ignored the locked driveway gate, which was posted with "No trespassing" signs, and approached his home.
He testified that he was awakened by someone wiggling out the air-conditioner beside his bed. The cooling unit fell out of the window and he saw a male face that he didn't identify as Kiraly's because the two had never met, Kelley testified. He said he grabbed his gun and fired two warning shots toward his shed to scare off the intruder, but he was not trying to shoot or kill at the man, he said.
A doctor testified that Kiraly suffered a superficial, non-life-threatening wound to the back from the old gun, which a firearms analyst characterized as "better than a handful of rocks."
Reaction: After the verdict, Neiderhiser said the Castle Doctrine was a solid defense. He also believed the jury was swayed by the conflicting testimony from the Kiralys, whose accounts differed on issues such as whether they banged on the air-conditioner.
Before the verdict, Fisher said the Castle Doctrine and other self-defense arguments don't apply to cases in which someone was already scared off before the shooting.
Kiraly was shot in the back, and it's only by "the grace of God" that his injury wasn't worse, the attorney said. He cited the doctor's testimony that the bullet fragment was lodged a few centimeters from Kiraly's aorta.
Kelley has already served 14 months in jail, and Neiderhiser said his sentence could amount to time-served. Bortner scheduled sentencing for 9 a.m. Feb. 23.
— Reach Christina Kauffman at ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.