SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — The man charged in connection with the June 2022 shooting death of Nicholas County Sheriff’s Deputy Tom Baker entered a plea bargain to a lesser charge Tuesday ahead of his scheduled trial.
Brent Tyler Kelly, 30, of Birch River, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter. He had been charged with murder in Baker’s death.
Kelly did plead guilty Tuesday to conspiracy, admitting that he knew that Richie Holcomb, the man shooting at police, was prohibited from having a gun.
The plea bargain does away with the charges of murder, two counts of attempted murder and four counts of wanton endangerment.
Kelly will be sentenced by Webster County Circuit Judge Jack Alsop, the special judge appointed in the case, on Sept. 12.
Alsop had summoned a 75-member jury pool to the courthouse in Summersville Tuesday to begin jury selection. The judge announced a possible plea deal just before the process got underway.
Baker was killed during a shootout near an RV that Kelly and Holcomb were using in the Birch River area on June 3, 2022.
During an August 2022 preliminary hearing, a state police trooper testified that evidence showed Kelly had gunshot residue on his hands, face and forehead but under cross-examination the trooper admitted he wasn’t sure if Kelly fired a shot during the two-hour plus standoff.
Holcomb, who died inside the RV, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound from an AR-15. The suicide was confirmed by the state Medical Examiner’s Office. It was bullets from that AR-15 that claimed Baker’s life.
A no contest plea means Kelly doesn’t admit guilt but accepts the conviction on the charge. Voluntary manslaughter carries a 3 to 15 year prison term in West Virginia.