Greg Kelley: High school footballer wrongly convicted of molesting 4-year-old says he was 'labeled a monster'
A former Texas high school player, Greg Kelley, who was wrongly convicted of sexually molesting a four-year-old child three years ago, in a recent interview said that he was "labeled a monster" throughout his ordeal. "I was labeled a monster, and you would see one out of every two people I interacted with on a daily basis talk terrible about me," he said while talking to Daily Beast on Sunday, August 9.
"Now that I've been exonerated, people's eyes started to open and not just follow accusations and the reports on the news. I've had a lot of people say they're sorry and that they're so happy for me," Kelley continued. "It feels good to hear that because it's opened a lot of people's eyes to not be so judgmental."
Kelley, a high school footballer in Leander, Austin, was sentenced to prison for at least 25 years after he was found guilty of two counts of super aggravated sexual assault against a four-year-old child in April 2017. The former footballer's ordeal was covered in a five-part docuseries by filmmaker Pat Kondelis titled 'Outcry'. Kondelis, in an effort to make the documentary — which aired on Showtime last month — spent over two years following Kelley's story. From his incarceration to the overturning of his conviction in 2019.
Kelley, during his time in prison, received financial assistance from a local activist, Jake Brydon, and hired a new lawyer, Keith Hampton. The lawyer's writ of habeas corpus uncovered new evidence in Kelley's case, which led to his eventual exoneration. Referring to the time when Kondelis began covering his case, Kelley said: "I'm so grateful because at that time, I didn't want a documentary made about me—I needed one made. I didn't know if the CCA, the Court of Criminal Appeals, or anybody else handling my case would do the wrong thing again and send me back. Just in case they wanted to do something bad we had this to show the world and say, hey, our system is really messed up."
Kelley, before his sentencing, was arrested for abusing the victim on August 9, 2013. The former athlete was 18 at the time. According to authorities, the child, at the time, had said that Kelley had "put his pee-pee" in his mouth twice on separate occasions at a daycare, which was operated by one of his friends Jonathan McCarty. McCarty's mother, Shama, had reportedly permitted Kelley to stay with her family after his mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The teen's father at the time had already suffered a stroke.
Shortly after the first victim came forward with the accusation, in 2013, a second child also made the same allegations, cops stated. It was then when Shama stated that Kelley's family should hire defense attorney Patricia Cummings in the case. "When I got Patricia I thought, OK, we're going to get the truth out there and I'll get to go back to playing football. But the way she handled the case was completely backwards," Kelley revealed. Reports state that during the case, multiple clues came up pointing to Jonathan as a possible suspect, who had a similar appearance to Kelley.
His second lawyer, Hampton, later presented to the court that his client was not living at the home where the abuse occurred and was instead helping his brother move when the child was victimized. The first victim allegedly said that his attacker wore SpongeBob Squarepants pajamas, which Jonathan had. The same child had also described Jonathan's bedroom which had a couch, crib, and trophies.
Hampton presented more evidence, showing child pornography was found on Jonathan's cell phone and computer, and that he was accused of drugging and raping at least four women while Kelley was in prison. There were also two witnesses who claimed that Johnathan had confessed to abusing the child. Johnathan was eventually convicted for sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl. He is currently out of prison, reports state.
"He was like my younger brother, but man, it's like I didn't know this guy at all," Kelley said of Johnathan. "I do believe that Jonathan did it. At first, it was very hard for me to accept that but as time went on, and the investigation that should've happened, stones got turned over and evidence came to light that really should've come to light in the first place."
"I think Jonathan has a lot of questions to answer and the way that things went about was absolutely sketchy on his part. I want him to come forward and tell the whole story," Kelley added. "It's not just about wrongfully convicting somebody—it's about the other victims. Hearing that he victimized more people while I went to prison, that's what really disgusts me with the whole system and this whole deal."
Kelley is now out of prison and is married to his high school girlfriend, Gaebri Anderson, who supported him throughout the case.