Welch gets a 20-year prison term

Kristina Lynn Welch, the 54-year-old woman who accepted a plea bargain for the shooting death of her husband, was sentenced Thursday in Judge James B. Wheelis’ courtroom to 20 years in a state prison.

Despite requests from her attorney, Jennifer Streano, that the recommended sentence from prosecution was too stiff for a first-time offender, Wheelis agreed with Montana Assistant Attorney General Catherine Truman and County Attorney Bernard Cassidy for the tough sentence.

Streano submitted as exhibits four cases where 20-year terms were handed down, and in each case, the offenders had previous records.

In dispensing the sentence, Wheelis told Welch she displayed “reckless use of a weapon” in the shooting death of her husband, Charles Bryan Welch. Wheelis said the public should be protected from the kind of behavior Welch displayed on Dec. 8, 2011, at their Granite Lake Road home. In sentencing, Wheelis ordered that Welch pay $15,000 in restitution, that she continue to have her medications monitored and that she should have credit for the 476 days she served in jail during the process.

About 50 people filled the courtroom, as some Welch family members followed the proceedings through a teleconference. Those people included Charles Welch, father of the victim; Kathleen Varah, Welch’s mother; Frank Sieka, her stepfather; David Welch, a brother; and Karen Skop, a sister.

Seated in the rows directly behind the defense table also were Welch family members, some of whom were emotionally upset with the sentence, some of whom denied comment afterward.

Streano, however,  expressed dissatisfaction with the 20-year term.

“Yes, I am a little disappointed,” she said. “We were hoping that it would be a little more in line with the plea agreement.”

 The plea agreement called for a 20-year sentence, of which 17 would have been suspended, which meant with time served in the Lincoln County Jail, Welch could have been released in about two years, nine months. However, Wheelis made it clear during a presentence hearing he would not accept a plea in which he could not determine sentencing.

Cassidy, the Lincoln County attorney, reserved comment, except to say the sentence, as Wheelis stated, provides for the protection of the public and allows an opportunity for Welch to receive rehabilitation.

Wheelis made it clear family members would not be permitted to comment. However, an emotional Welch was allowed to speak.

 “I just want to tell Brian’s family how sorry I am for everything, and my family (unintelligible),” she said, weeping profusely throughout much of the statement. “I’m very sorry. I wish I could take it back. It was a split-second decision, and it was wrong. It was very wrong, and I am sorry for my part. And, I wish I could change it. And, I want his family to know that we were happy. They seem to think that we were miserable together (unintelligible) moving to Alaska, and we were excited about moving and making new plans. I want them to know that he wasn’t miserable, that we were happy. It was a fight that got out of control. When I think about what the argument was about, it just got out of control. I am sorry (unintelligible). This doesn’t even seem real. It doesn’t seem real because I’ve been locked up, and I haven’t been without him for 17 years, and it just doesn’t seem real. I want to tell his family and friends (unintelligible) so sorry. That’s all,” Welch concluded.

In awaiting sentencing, Welch has seen parts of three calendar years in the Lincoln County Jail since being incarcerated Dec. 8, 2011, for killing her husband in the early morning at their home at 4410 Granite Lake Road. She admitted to killing her husband and then waiting hours before calling 911 for an ambulance at 8:45 a.m. Dec. 8, 2011. When emergency responders found Charles Welch he had been deceased for hours.

Welch has admitted shooting her husband with a Smith & Wesson revolver in the early morning hours of Dec. 8, 2011. 

The couple reportedly quarreled about money shortly before the shooting. Charles Welch was a retired prison warden in Florida.

Police questioned Kristina Welch after the fatal shooting, further drawing suspicion upon her for delaying in calling for an ambulance. When emergency officials responded to the Welch home on Granite Lake Road they found a Charles Welch who had died as a result of the gunshot wound hours before.