Mike Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A man sent to a mental hospital for up to 40 years for setting fires, including one that caused $1 million in damage, was denied his freedom Monday for the second time in less than two years.
Keith Brian Kelly, who was committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in 1999 and now is at the Mendota Mental Health Institute, had filed a petition in Waukesha County Circuit Court in July seeking to be released to the community. Waukesha County Judge Ralph Ramirez rejected the request Monday.
In September 2006, Ramirez also refused to grant the release of Kelly, 34, saying at the time that Kelly still posed a risk of serious property damage and bodily harm to others.
Ramirez on Monday cited similar reasons for declining to release Kelly.
Kelly was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in 1999 on two counts of arson and one count of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
Kelly told police he had set more than 10 small fires in New Berlin, as well as two fires at the Brittany Apartments complex, where he and his parents lived. The second fire at the complex, a four-alarm blaze on Oct. 29, 1997, caused more than $1 million in damage and displaced 44 residents, including his family and one of the city’s firefighters. The complex was across the street from the city’s Fire Station No. 5.
He told police that he didn’t want to hurt anybody. He set fires because he liked to watch fire engines respond.
Although Kelly was sentenced to serve up to 40 years in a state mental hospital, he is allowed under state law to request a conditional release. That would allow him to leave the hospital and live in the community under certain conditions, such as supervision and treatment.
The court in 2005 also denied Kelly’s petition for conditional release.
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