Emily Ashcraft is a reporter for KSL. She covers issues in state courts, health and religion. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.
PROVO — A man who will be going to prison for shooting and killing his brother-in-law admitted in a jail phone call that he had told his mom that the plot to kill the man was a bad idea."I warned her, I literally warned her.
I said, 'This will change so many lives, you don't even know how many lives this is going to change,'" Kevin Ellis said to his sister shortly after he was found guilty in January.That phone call was made from the Utah County Jail shortly after his trial and was played Tuesday during Ellis' sentencing hearing. A jury found him guilty of murder during his trial in January but found him not guilty of conspiring with his mother and sister to kill Matthew Restelli."I don't remember exactly what I said, but I know I got it across — 'This is not the best idea you're having, like think about it for a second,'" Ellis told his sister of the conversation he had with his mother before the killing occurred on July 12, 2024. "That's why I feel so much blame, because I didn't step up at that point and be like, 'You know what, no. I need to step up and take my own advice.' ... I trusted her."'Coldly plotted'Fourth District Judge Roger Griffin referred to that phone call Tuesday before ordering Ellis to serve consecutive prison sentences for shooting and killing Matt Restelli."You clearly could have said no ... and this incident wouldn't have occurred, and you didn't have the courage or the desire to say no," the judge said.He said Restelli's brother can't replace the father of Ellis' niece and nephew, and emphasized that the ramifications of Ellis' actions will continue for the rest of their lives. He called the case a "clear tragedy.""This wasn't an action of passion, it wasn't a spur of the moment action, it was something that was coldly plotted out by you, it was something that you knew you shouldn't be doing," Griffin said.He called Ellis' actions deliberate and said they were done "solely for the convenience of your sister," to prevent her from returning to California to get a divorce.Ellis was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life in prison for murder, a first-degree felony; one to 15 years for obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and two terms of zero to five years for domestic violence in the presence of a child, a third-degree felony. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.He was also ordered to serve zero to five years in prison for purchase or transf
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