A Milwaukee man admitted Friday he played a role in the fatal shooting last year of another man during a drug deal, but denied being the one who pulled the trigger.
Julian Kelly, 21, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime in the March 28, 2023, slaying of Anthony Wingo, Jr., 20.
Kelly was the prime suspect in the shooting and initially was charged with first-degree reckless homicide.
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Jury selection for his trial had been scheduled to begin Monday.
In court Friday, Kelly admitted to setting the wheels in motion that led up to the shooting – he enlisted four men, two of whom were armed and were ready to shoot if things went awry, to back him up during a deal to buy marijuana.
When asked by Circuit Court Judge John Franke if he fired the shot that killed Wingo, Kelly denied having a gun that night.
Franke accepted Kelly's plea after finding it met the statutory criteria regarding party to a crime offenses .
In Wisconsin, a defendant can be charged with being a party to a crime if they “aid and abet” someone in committing a crime, hire someone to commit a crime or advises or otherwise helps another person commit a crime.
People convicted as a party to a crime can face the same punishment as a person who carried out the crime themselves.
Kelly faces up to 15 years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision when he is sentenced Dec. 12. The potential punishment for Kelly didn't sit well with Wingo's mother, Jazzamin Green, 40.
"That's not justice," she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the hearing. "My son was 20 years old. So (Kelly) can get out and walk around in 15 years? He won't even be near my age. I feel like he should get life."
Assistant District Attorney Grant Huebner did not make a sentencing recommendation. Kelly would not name the other men who allegedly were involved in the incident; his lawyer May Y. Lee, of Wauwatosa, said Kelly fears retribution.
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Here's what prosecutors say happened the night Anthony Wingo Jr. was killed
Milwaukee police officers were dispatched to Ascension St. Joseph Hospital on Milwaukee's north side just after midnight March 28. The call was about a shooting victim. Wingo was found there with a gunshot wound to the back. Doctors tried to save him, but were unable to, and he died.
Police found an unoccupied Nissan Maxima in the hospital's emergency department parking lot with its engine still running. Investigators later determined it was the vehicle used to drive Wingo to the hospital.
Two bullet holes were found on the car. One was at the rear passenger window. A bullet was lodged in the window frame. Another was a "glancing, non-penetrating strike" to the front passenger area, according to the criminal complaint.
Prosecutors were prepared to present incriminating statements Kelly made on social media about the shooting had the case gone to trial.
Green had previously told the Journal Sentinel she reached out to Kelly on Facebook hours after Wingo was pronounced dead in search of answers.
At first, she got no response.
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Later, Green heard back from Kelly in a Facebook voice message. According to a criminal complaint, the caller said he was involved in a marijuana purchase, and maintained the buyer wasn't supposed to bring anyone one else to the deal.
Wingo showed up with the buyer.
Kelly said in the message he "felt in danger" and "did not hesitate" and "thus did what I did," according to the complaint.
Kelly became the subject of an arrest warrant that was issued May 1 in connection with the killing. He was arrested in October 2023 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, by federal marshals after several months on the run.
Green and other members of her family demonstrated outside the Milwaukee County Courthouse in July 2023, criticizing the pace of the investigation. They alleged prosecutors and investigators had not made Wingo's killing a priority.
Green said she has had to lean heavily on her faith to navigate through her emotions since her son's death. And it hasn't been easy.
"I'm just going to pray about it. That's all I can do," Green said. "There's nothing else I can do at this point, but accept it."
As of Thursday, Milwaukee has recorded 108 homicides this year, according to police. Milwaukee had 142 homicides at this point in 2023, the year Wingo was killed, and 177 homicides at the same point a year earlier.
A total of 215 homicides were reported in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee man pleads guilty in fatal shooting, but denies being the one who pulled the trigger
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