STAR JOURNAL REPORT

A 60-year-old Tripoli man will spend three years in prison, followed by two years extended supervision for a shooting incident at his home in April. Kenneth S. Welsh was sentenced Jan. 6 in Oneida County Circuit Court.

Welsh entered into a plea agreement Sept. 20 in Oneida County, where he pleaded no contest to an amended felony charge of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and a misdemeanor count of operating a firearm while intoxicated. Charges of first-degree reckless injury and batter were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

According to court records, Circuit Judge Michael Bloom cited the gravity of Welsh’s crime and the need to protect the public as sentencing considerations, finding probation is “not appropriate.”

Welsh was accused of possessing a firearm during a physical altercation April 19, 2016 with his wife, Mary Butler, and receiving a gunshot wound to his shoulder during the altercation. Upon Butler then leaving the residence, court records state Welsh shot the windshield of the vehicle with which she drove away.

Court records also note that Welsh, who was upset because he and his wife were about to be evicted from the house the couple lived in and was making threats, had been apprehended at his residence after Special Response Team officers responded to the scene and used beanbag rounds to subdue him.

For the misdemeanor charge, Welsh was sentenced concurrently to nine months in jail. He was credited with 262 days already served.