TACOMA — Adam Michael Kelly, the Port Townsend man who abandoned Jarrod Bramson after he overdosed on heroin in a car outside Jefferson Healthcare hospital on March 27, 2019, was sentenced Thursday to a total of five years and six months in prison.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle noted the letters he had received from the Port Townsend community mourning the loss of Bramson, a popular musician.
Judge Settle said Kelly would have to “live with” the fact that he had likely played a role in his tragic death “for the rest of [Kelly’s] life.”
According to the plea agreement, on the night of Bramson’s death, Kelly and his then-girlfriend abandoned Bramson outside the hospital emergency room. They later called the hospital asking staff to check on Bramson.
Bramson, who was 43, had no pulse when he was found by hospital staff, and was dead within 20 minutes.
Law enforcement traced the phone call made to the hospital to Kelly’s residence, and when questioned by police, Kelly admitted Bramson had used drugs in his home, that he had become unresponsive, and that Kelly had left him at the emergency room entrance when he could not revive him, according to court records..
Police obtained a search warrant for Kelly’s home and found a sophisticated drug lab in the basement with pill presses, lab equipment, vent hoods, and more than 75 pounds of Schedule III controlled substances, primarily steroids, according to court documents.
Records seized at the lab indicate Kelly had a lucrative business selling and shipping illegal steroids across the country.
Bramson had become unresponsive in Kelly’s drug lab.
In addition to the lab, Kelly had a variety of firearms, silencers and tactical gear, court documents said.
In the lab, Kelly had a.40 caliber Glock that was both loaded and fitted with a silencer. In his bedroom, he had six guns, including two Glock handguns, a Bersa .22 caliber, a Winchester shotgun, a Remington 700, and a Bushmaster AR-15. A second silencer was found in the bedroom. Law enforcement seized a variety of ammunition and a tactical vest.
As an admitted drug user, it is illegal for Kelly to possess firearms. When arrested, he had both heroin and methamphetamine in his possession.
Kelly is currently serving a 68-month state sentence for controlled substance homicide, a charge arising out of this same investigation and based on Bramson’s death.
He had pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and illegal firearms possession charges in federal district court.
Kelly’s sentence in this case, including the recommendation that the sentence run concurrent to the state sentence, was jointly recommended by the parties to resolve globally Kelly’s state and federal charges.
The judgment for a 44-month federal sentence that Judge Settle imposed is in addition to and reflects the 22 months Kelly has already served in state and federal custody on these and related state charges, for a total effective sentence of 66 months.
If Kelly completes his state sentence first, he will then be transferred to federal custody to serve the federal time. Kelly has been in custody since his arrest March 28, 2019.
The Port Townsend Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, with assistance from other local and federal law enforcement agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Dreher prosecuted the case.
