A 38-year-old Nebraska man was sentenced Monday to 33 years in prison after being found guilty of use of a deadly weapon to assault his father and two other felonies. Â
Seth Ketelhut was also found guilty in Cass County District Court of second-degree assault and false imprisonment. He was sentenced to 10 to 15 years on each of the assault convictions and two to three years for false imprisonment with the sentences to be served one after the other.Â
The Cass County Attorney's Office dismissed charges of kidnapping, use of a firearm to commit a felony, attempted assault and terroristic threats. Ketelhut must serve at least half of the minimum sentence on each conviction before being eligible for parole. He will be credited with 245 days spent in the Cass County Jail.Â
Cass County Attorney Chris Perrone said Tuesday that Ketelhut has an "extensive record of assault, domestic abuse and numerous other criminal convictions" in several counties. The reason for Ketelhut's behavior can be tied to his illegal drug use coupled with significant mental health problems, he said.
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"The defendant claimed that his failure to take prescribed medications, and his illicit drug use magnified his paranoia and released unresolved childhood trauma leading to his actions," Perrone said. "There is no evidence that the defendant’s mental health problems cause him to be violent absent his use of illicit drugs.
"Further, there is no evidence that he is violent when properly medicated. There are simply times he chooses not to take his medications and chooses to use illicit drugs which puts everyone around him in danger."
Prosecutors said Ketelhut attacked his father, Kevin Ketelhut, then 67, at his rural Eagle home on Nov. 5, 2023. According to the arrest affidavit, the younger Ketelhut forced his father to sit in a chair for over 20 hours starting about 10:20 a.m. and ending about 7:30 a.m. Nov. 6.
During that time, the affidavit said, the son struck his father on the head with a PVC pipe and menaced him with a gun while asking over and over, "Are you going to live or die?"
Investigators from the Cass County Sheriff's Office and Nebraska State Patrol observed bruising to Kevin Ketelhut's body and head. There were also visible bite marks on the elder Ketelhut's ears and head.
The younger Ketelhut is also under investigation in Dodge County for the assault of his mother, Terri Maschka, 68, at her Fremont home on Nov. 4, 2023. An arrest warrant charged Seth Ketelhut, who is said to be homeless, with first-degree assault. He was also charged with abuse of a vulnerable adult and felony theft of his mother's 2021 Ford Escape.Â
Dodge County Attorney Pamela Hopkins later dismissed the charges while awaiting the result of the Cass County proceedings against Seth Ketelhut. Hopkins did not immediately return a request Tuesday for comment on the progress of that investigation.Â
According to an affidavit, Maschka was taken to a Fremont hospital and then transferred to the Nebraska Medical Center's intensive care unit due to suffering a cerebellar stroke and vertebral artery dissection from the assault. She died Dec. 2 at the hospital from her injuries.Â
Seth Ketelhut, his mother told investigators, went into a rage, "punching her and slamming her to the ground" after she made a derogatory statement about one of his children. A neighbor brought her to the Fremont hospital with "terrible injuries to her face," the affidavit said. An investigator noted that Maschka's eyes were bruised and swollen shut. There was "dried blood on her hands, in her hair and on her teeth," the investigator wrote.
Seth Ketelhut is wanted in Hall County for failure to appear on charges of breaking into an Episcopal church in Grand Island and causing thousands of dollars of damage. Other charges from the Feb. 23 incident include being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon and resisting arrest.
He is also charged in Hall County with vandalism of the Grand Island Independent newspaper and damaging a vehicle parked outside the building by jumping up and down on the vehicle's roof.