The D.C. Circuit on Friday (March 8) upheld the conviction of a D.C. man who was found guilty in 2016 of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl he met on Instagram.
Prosecutors said Robert Kelsey, who was 26 at the time, concealed his identity, flirted with the girl, picked her up at her summer camp, and took her to a house where he had sex with her. A federal jury found Kelsey guilty, and he was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
At the D.C. Circuit, Kelsey challenged his conviction on three grounds. First, he said the trial judge improperly allowed a lab worker to testify about a DNA sample even though the worker was not designated as an expert witness. Second, Kelsey argued that a photo array from which the victim identified him was overly suggestive because the victim had previously said the perpetrator had a tattoo on his ear, and Kelsey was the only person with an ear tattoo shown in the photo array. Third, he argued that statements he made to the police should not have been admitted because he made those statements under continued questioning after he said he would feel better if his lawyer were present.
In U.S. v. Kelsey, the D.C. Circuit rejected all three challenges. In an opinion by Judge Pillard (joined by Judges Henderson and Ginsburg), the court first found that there was nothing wrong with the lab worker’s testimony because it was used only to establish the chain of custody of the DNA evidence, not any expert analysis of the evidence. The court also found the photo array admissible because Kelsey’s ear tattoo was barely visible in the photo of him. And the court deemed Kelsey’s statements to the police voluntary because the police informed him that he could stop answering questions at any time, and nothing about the interrogation showed signs of coercion.
Kelsey previously was convicted for his involvement in the shooting death of a D.C. Council member’s grandson. Kelsey was found guilty of being an accessory to the 2005 shooting of 15-year-old Jon Allen Jr., who was the grandson of former D.C. Council member Sandy Allen. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison for that crime.
