The jury in the Bodahl murder trial found Daniel Kelly not guilty of first degree reckless homicide Friday night after several hours of deliberation.
Members of both families waited patiently through much of the day Friday. Lawyers made their closing arguments and the case was in the hands of the 12-member jury by noon Friday.
However, after almost 10 hours of waiting, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Moeser read the verdict as the jury concluded Kelly, who carried a concealed weapon, shot 23-year-old Austin Bodahl in self-defense on State Street May 22.
Kelly is now a free man.
In the defense’s closing argument, Public Defender Dennis Burke drew attention to the fact that Kelly showed no signs of drinking or drug use and was simply minding his own business when three drunken “thugs”—Bodahl, Carl Provin and Travis “Romeo” Verastegui—approached him looking for a fight.
“I think it’s fair to say he was scared to death,” Burke said of Kelly. “[The incident] all happened in the blink of an eye.”
Assistant District Attorney Lana Mades conceded Bodahl’s drunkenness in her closing arguments, but noted Kelly’s attack was calculated because he had a weapon that could fit in the palm of his hand in his pocket. In fact, Mades said Kelly crafted a little holster for his five round .22 mini revolver.
“He was hiding in wait,” Mades said, adding the thought of Kelly back on the streets as a free man “makes my blood run cold.”
Still, Burke said State Street is no longer a safe place and the 5’8”, 140-pound Kelly needed something to protect himself. He also said Kelly was a recognizable face downtown.
“[Kelly’s] what makes State Street, State Street,” Burke said.
As for the case itself, 36 people ranging from experts to police officers testified. Of that number, 16 people were witnesses to the scene. However, those 16 testimonies proved to be inconsistent, and Burke told the jury to realize nobody for sure knew what happened that fateful night in May.
Burke asked the jury to put themselves in Kelly’s shoes. Mades advised the jurors to remember Bodahl and how he had no say in the case.
Yet, Burke offered this analogy to sum up five days of court.
“It was not the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’, but the Nightmare on State Street.”
