FORT SMITH : Suspect, 19, pleads innocent in attacks
Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008
FORT SMITH — A man charged with raping a woman and severely beating two men pleaded innocent Wednesday in Sebastian County Circuit Court.
Brandon Aaron Kelly, 19, entered his plea to two counts of rape and two counts of firstdegree battery before Circuit Judge Mike Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh appointed the public defender to represent Kelly. He is being held in the Sebastian County jail in lieu of $ 500, 000 bond.
Police reports said officers responding to a disturbance at 1 a.m. July 16 saw Kelly in an apartment in the 600 block of North 12 th Street having sex with a woman while the two men, listed as being in their 50 s, lay unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood.
The woman, who police say was raped at least twice by Kelly, told investigators Kelly beat the men after they told him to leave because he was making unwanted advances toward the woman.
The two men were so drunk they could not defend themselves against Kelly’s attack and lay on the floor as he beat and kicked them in the head and upper body off and on for up to 45 minutes, she told police. Police said Kelly also beat the men with items in the apartment such as a television and the 55-year-old woman’s walker.
One of the beaten men was listed in critical condition Wednesday at Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith. The second man has been released from the hospital.
The police investigation on whether Kelly sexually assaulted the two men is ongoing, according to the prosecuting attorney’s office.
Doctors later told police one of the men had a blood alcohol content of 0. 39 percent and the other was 0. 32 percent. A person with a blood alcohol content of 0. 08 percent is considered legally intoxicated in Arkansas.
An apartment manager told police that Kelly frequently visited one of the men who lived in the apartment. He said he saw Kelly and the resident arguing loudly outside the apartment about 11 p.m. that night. He said both men appeared very drunk.
When police arrived, they found furniture thrown around the apartment and blood everywhere. Reports described the woman, Kelly and the two men as covered in blood.
Police reports stated that doctors at Sparks determined one man had brain injuries and both suffered several facial fractures, some broken ribs, internal injuries and cuts.
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