Deputy's killer sentenced to 55 years

A Springfield man convicted of fatally shooting McHenry County sheriff's Deputy Jacob Keltner was sentenced Monday to 55 years in prison.

Floyd E. Brown, 43, was found guilty of second-degree murder in April by a federal jury in Rockford. He also was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder for shooting at the door of his hotel room while three marshals - Michael Schulte, Michael Flannery and Dan Kramer - stood on the other side.

Keltner, 35, and the other marshals were working as part of a special U.S. Marshals Service task force on the morning of March 7, 2019, attempting to serve Brown with an arrest warrant at the Extended Stay America hotel in Rockford.

Had Brown been found guilty of first-degree murder, which was an option for the jury, he would have had a mandatory life sentence, said Judge Matthew Kennelly, who in sentencing Brown said he wouldn't call him a "monster" but does think he's a threat to society.

In considering sentencing enhancements, Kennelly said he also believed Brown was not being truthful when he testified that he did not knowingly shoot Keltner. He said Brown put others at risk during the high-speed chase that followed the shooting, during which Brown was said to have been traveling 124 mph and sideswiped another vehicle.

Brown, who also is required to pay more than $3 million in restitution, apologized to Keltner's family during the sentencing hearing Monday. He also spoke about his bad interactions with police and said he just reacted, that he didn't mean to kill anyone.

After the hearing, Jacob Keltner's father, Howard Keltner, criticized the sentence, saying "the judge slapped my son right in the face" by handing down less than a life term to Brown.

The federal prosecutor, Talia Bucci, and Keltner's widow, Rebecca Keltner, asked during the hearing that Brown be sentenced to life in prison.

Rebecca Keltner spoke of her pain, sadness, anxiety and nightmares in the last 1,270 days since her husband was killed. She still sends him text messages knowing he will not respond and sometimes screams at the night sky hoping he will respond and tell her what to do. She said she was "not done loving him."

"I was blessed to be Jacob Keltner's wife," she said, weeping. "I would give anything to have Jake back."

His father read an impact statement written by his wife, Helen, who was not in court Monday. She wrote that what she has been going through since the day her son was killed "is like a bad dream that just keeps happening." The ride to the hospital after receiving a call that her son was hurt was "surreal," she wrote.

She spoke of seeing her son in the hospital, kissing him and saying goodbye one last time. She thought, "I'm his mom and I can't fix him. ... I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare," she wrote.

She detailed her son's life, his funny, loving and kind personality. He "did his very best at everything he did," she said. She spoke of his dedication as a loving husband and father to his two "amazing sons." She wrote of living just blocks away from her son and his family and regularly seeing him ride his bike or jog over to their home.

"We were living a blessed life," she said.

A therapist who has been working with the family since Jacob Keltner's death read letters from his sons, who were 6 and 4 when he died. The boys wrote they miss their father, his snuggles and hugging him. They wrote of all the fun times they had with him playing video games, watching movies, eating candy and having "boy's nights."

"I wish that my dad was still here," said Carson Keltner, now 8.

Floyd Brown's sister, Dawn Brown, tearfully read a letter on behalf of her and her siblings, speaking of a very different childhood, asking the judge for leniency and apologizing to Keltner's family.

She said that they grew up in an abusive home and that Floyd Brown was always a protector who often avoided conflict.

She called him her hero, and although he had his struggles, he was always there for her and saved her life "on many occasions," she said.

"There are no winners in this case," she said.

At the time of the shooting, Brown was wanted in Bloomington for committing "a string of residential burglaries," Jared Bierbaum of the Bloomington Police Department testified Monday.

Warrants for Brown's arrest had been issued out of McLean, Champaign and Sangamon counties, as well as by the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Bierbaum said Brown was suspected of stealing gold and silver coins, high-end jewelry and other valuables totaling nearly $400,000 over a span of several months in 2018.

Bucci outlined the last 20 years of Brown's criminal history, including domestic violence, violations of orders of protections, endangering a child, weapons offenses, batteries of police officers and burglaries.

A little more than three months before the shooting, officers attempted to arrest Brown, but he took off in his Dodge Charger at speeds of about 103 miles per hour, hit another vehicle, seriously injuring the driver, and fled, according to Bierbaum.

Brown ended up at the Rockford hotel with his girlfriend until he was located by the U.S. marshals the morning of Keltner's death.

The three members of the task force arrived outside Brown's hotel room, knocked on the door and announced who they were. Brown shot several rounds at the door. He then jumped out of the third-story window and encountered Keltner.

After shooting Keltner, Brown took off in the same Charger, leading a high-speed chase back toward Springfield. After a five-hour standoff on the side of a highway in Lincoln, he was taken into custody.

Brown "was willing to do anything to avoid going back to jail," Bucci said in asking that he be sentenced to life in prison. Brown had preloaded pistols, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and other firearms in his hotel room that day.

"This has to be the end of his liberty," Bucci said. "He needs to be in prison for the rest of his life."