CBS Austin: Greg Kelley calls for firing of Cedar Park PD chief

CBS|Austin: Greg Kelley says he wants justice after his conviction is overturned.

“I was given my freedom and I’m happy with it,” said Greg Kelley.

On Thursday, Kelley is celebrating his freedom while the Cedar Park City Council is looking at possible ramifications. The council is holding a special public meeting on Monday to discuss the case and policies and procedures at the Cedar Park Police Department. That comes after the state’s highest criminal court overturned Kelley’s conviction, a criminal case that was investigated by Cedar Park police.

“I want justice,” said Kelley.

And the former Leander High School football star says he doesn’t just want it for himself. “I want this kid to feel like he’s been delivered justice,” said Kelley.

In 2014, Kelley was found guilty of the aggravated sexual assault of a 4-year-old boy at a Leander in-home daycare. On Wednesday, that conviction was overturned by the state’s highest criminal court. Kelley is now a free man, that doesn’t mean the 24-year-old is ready to move on. “We want to make sure we get down to the bottom of this,” said Kelley.

But Kelley’s attorney, Keith Hampton, says charging another suspect in the case could be problematic. “You might think it’s an easy case to prosecute, but it’s not straightforward,” said Hampton.

The Court of Criminal Appeals court cited new evidence and a “deficient police investigation,” as reasons Kelley’s conviction was overturned. Some of that evidence were images of Kelley and Johnathan McCarty when they were in high school. At the time, they looked very similar. McCarty’s mother ran the daycare where the 4-year-old was allegedly molested.

Hampton thinks there’s enough evidence to make Jonathan McCarty a prime suspect but says that doesn’t mean he’ll ever be charged. “This particular child said Greg. And he’s never said anything but Greg and he said it under oath. It’s testimony, so how does a prosecutor overcome that,” said Hampton.

In addition to getting justice for the victim, Kelley also wants Cedar Park police to be held accountable for what he considers a botched investigation. “I’m very disappointed about how they run their organization. I don’t believe they run it with integrity,” said Kelley.

On Monday, the Cedar Park City Council is holding a public meeting to discuss the overturned conviction and the ramifications it could have. Kelley could file a civil suit but that could mean he can’t collect a payout from the state of $80,000 a year for each of the three years he wrongfully spent in prison.

“I think that he has to choose one or the other,” said Hampton. “I can guarantee you a quarter of a million dollars right now or do you want to roll the legal dice and see if you can prevail in a civil suit.”

Kelley won’t have to make that decision until after a final court hearing is held later this month.

Greg Kelley calls for firing of Cedar Park PD chief

I received a phone call yesterday afternoon from Pastor Bob Brydon of Generations Church who is helping lead the effort to “fight for GK,” the man convicted of super aggravated sexual assault of a 4 year-old boy, in prison for 25 years after accepting a sentencing deal waiving his right to appeal. Bob immediately let me know how offended he was at our statement, saying he considered it “slander.” I asked what was slanderous about it, but he did not answer. He just began a rant about how the “real perp” is still out there on the streets.

In the weeks before a 4-year-old boy accused Greg Kelley of molesting him in 2013, the former Leander football player was obsessed with pornography, spent hours alone with children attending the in-home daycare where he lived, and took a selfie of himself with the victim, according to a search warrant filed in Williamson County District Court on Thursday morning.

Even after Kelley was charged with sexually abusing the child and was awaiting trial, he engaged in high-risk sexual behavior by meeting with other people through a website that connects those looking for sexual activity, the document states. And the affidavit goes further, stating that Kelley viewed pornography with more frequency, for longer time periods, and with increasingly deviant content around the time of the alleged abuse — a pattern described as similar to that of a sex offender who is “about to offend.” 

Meanwhile, during an ongoing investigation into the case, Kelley was “evasive and or dishonest during his interviews” with law enforcement and “was found to be making statements that were direct contradictions to information he had already provided,” the search warrant states.

Texas Ranger calls Kelley ‘dishonest and evasive’ in new court documents

At the end of the hearing, Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick called the case an “utter collapse” of the criminal justice system. Dick said he believed there were mistakes made in the Kelley case by police, the prosecution and the jury.

However, in the search warrant filed Thursday Mitchell said he found Greg Kelley to be “evasive” and “dishonest” during interviews.

Mitchell explained, Kelley denied ever being alone with the children at the home where the sexual assault occurred. However, while reviewing Kelley’s cell phone, Mitchell discovered text messages in which Kelley spoke of being alone for hours with multiple children in the house. Mitchell said he also found a text message in which Kelley spoke of a “selfie” photo he appeared in with the child victim.

The search warrant said Kelley suddenly developed a habit of viewing porn. Mitchell elaborated that the pornographic website visitation was not that of a typical teenager but something that he would call “an addiction.” Mitchell wrote in the court documents the porn viewing was “substantial evidence” because it marked the beginning of a change in Kelley’s normal habits and sexual interests around the time the victim was sexually assaulted.

In the newly filed documents, Mitchell said deleted text messages revealed Kelley using an adult website to meet strangers in secrecy for sexual contact. Mitchell said he was interested in knowing if Kelley confessed past crimes to the people he found on the website.

Last paragraph. pic.twitter.com/pLjkp4Q5Ai

— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) August 18, 2017

Documents: Greg Kelley wouldn’t cooperate with investigation into Johnathan McCarty

WFAA: 

A warrant filed on Aug.17 examined iCloud accounts associated with Kelley between Dec. 20, 2012 and Dec. 1, 2014.

Investigators recovered deleted text message conversations in which Kelley spoke about being alone for hours with multiple children in the daycare. He also discussed a selfie he had taken with the central victim in the sexual assault case. Kelley had previously told investigators he was never alone with any children in the daycare and had little knowledge of the victim.