A prominent figure in the Irish-American community in Washington DC has been jailed for one day for each of the next seven years for the involuntary manslaughter and neglect of his 21-month-old-daughter.
Judge Rossie D Alston told Manassas Circuit Court in Virginia that many people in the community thought Kevin Kelly (46) was despicable for accidentally leaving his daughter, Frances, in car for seven hours during a heat wave. He said that he was still convinced that Kelly was a good man who loved his family and his church.
Kelly was hugged by many of his 12 children as he left the courthouse. His wife, who wore a dark veil over her face, wept as she hugged one of her daughters.
Before the judge handed down his sentence, Kelly told the court that he spoke to Frances in his prayers and told her many times that he was sorry that he had let her down. "All of my family love Frances very much," he said.
He thanked the judge and court staff for the way they treated the case and begged the court to show mercy. Throughout the three-day trial, Kelly's defence team argued that he believed he had left Frances in the care of older siblings. Three of his children testified that he was a loving father who put his family first.
Judge Alston said that there wasn't a single day that had gone by since the start of the case where he personally had not thought about Frances and the tragic circumstances surrounding her death. "I do not take any pleasure in putting the words 'Kevin Kelly' and 'criminal' in the same sentence," he said.
In a highly unusual sentence, Judge Alston ordered Kelly to donate blood on Frances' anniversary for the next seven years.
He also placed him under probation for the next seven years.
Kelly was convicted after a three day trial in November. The jury heard evidence that Frances was accidentally left inside the car, where temperatures rose to over 120 degrees. The man's wife was visiting her sick father in Cork at the time, and was due to bring him on a religious pilgrimage when the accident happened. A police office had warned Kevin Kelly to care for Frances after she was found wandering on the road outside the house six weeks before her death on May 29th last.
Politicians described Kelly as a model father who deeply loved his children. Democrat member of the Virginia state assembly Mr Robert Marshall described the Kellys as "like an Irish Catholic family from the 1950s".