Idaho Killer Kelly Schneider Committed Murder Because the Victim Was Gay
Kelly Bryan Schneider, who confessed to the brutal beating death of a gay man in Idaho, was sentenced to 28 years in prison this week after admitting that he committed the crime because of the victim鈥檚 sexual orientation.
The federal hate crime sentence will be concurrent with a 28-year state prison term Schneider received in January after pleading guilty to a state charge of first-degree murder. Idaho state law does not include an individual鈥檚 sexual orientation as a motive for a crime.
So, after his guilty plea in state court, Schneider was charged in January with a federal hate crime under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act signed into law in 2009 by then-President Obama.
The murder and federal hate crime charge were related to the April 29, 2016, death of Steven Nelson, 49, near Lake Lowell in southern Idaho.
Three other suspects, Jayson Woods, 28, Kevin R. Tracy, 21, both of Nampa, Idaho, and Daniel Henkel, 23, of Wilder, Idaho, also were charged with state murder charges, but don鈥檛 face federal hate crime charges.
Schneider, 23, of Nampa, and the other three were accused of luring Nelson to Gott鈥檚 Point near Lake Lowell, in southern Idaho. Investigators determined Schneider used his steel-toed boots to kick the victim in the head before robbing him and stealing his vehicle.
The victim, stripped naked and left for dead, later was taken to a hospital, where he died of cardiac arrest.
Defense attorney Dick Rubin told the court about Schneider鈥檚 鈥渢urbulent childhood and a history of mental illness鈥� going back to age 9 when he was hospitalized in a psychiatric facility, the reported.
Schneider was sent to a juvenile corrections facility when he was 16 and remained in prison until he was 22.聽 He had been out on parole only about five months when he committed the murder.
Schneider apologized to the victim鈥檚 family in court, the Boise newspaper reported.
鈥淚鈥檓 truly sorry for the pain and suffering I鈥檝e put your family through,鈥� Schneider said in addressing the victim鈥檚 family. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing I can ever do to make it up.鈥�
聽The prosecution鈥檚 sentencing memorandum, prepared by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron N. Lucoff and filed earlier this month, was sealed from public inspection 鈥� a somewhat unusual step in such high-profile hate crime cases.聽 No reasons for the secrecy are given in publicly available court documents.
In court, the federal prosecutor said the 28-year sentence 鈥渞epresents both society鈥檚 condemnation of what happened to Nelson and its condemnation of hate crimes, specifically those based upon a person鈥檚 sexual orientation,鈥� the Boise newspaper reported.
