GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – Austin Kelly, a 17-year-old from Grand Island, has been convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery in connection with a 2023 murder at a Fonner Park horse barn. He could face up to 50 years in prison and is set to be sentenced in July. As part of a plea bargain, three other charges against Kelly, including robbery and two counts of felony accessory, were dropped.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Lane Harris, also from Grand Island, is scheduled for a plea hearing related to the same murder case on Wednesday. Last week, robbery and robbery conspiracy charges against Harris were replaced with an amended charge of aiding a felony, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
In a separate development, 21-year-old Logan Hunts Horse of Wounded Knee, SD, recently pled guilty to second-degree murder and no contest to using a deadly weapon to commit a felony in the Fonner Park murder. He will be sentenced on July 30. Hunts Horse had four related charges dropped as part of his plea bargain.
The murder in question occurred on March 9, 2023, when 62-year-old Todd Scherer of Lincoln was killed in a Fonner Park horse barn. Hunts Horse admitted to shooting Scherer in the stomach with a handgun, leaving and then returning to beat him to death with a baseball bat. After the murder, court records indicate that Scherer’s wallet was then taken from a pants pocket and then Hunts Horse, his girlfriend, Kelly and Harris then split the cash in the wallet.
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