FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| Date: | May 14, 2021 |
| Contact: | Emily Lowe Public Information Officer 208-287-7700 |
| RE: | State v. Byron Ely – Sentencing |
Byron Ely, 62, who solicited the murder and kidnapping of a young sexual abuse victim, was sentenced Tuesday to prison for lewd conduct with the same minor child.
Ada County Prosecutors asked for a fixed life sentence due to the severity of the defendant’s charges, and his criminal history in other states, which includes convictions for forgery, battery against a household member, possession of cocaine and trafficking controlled substances.
Ada County District Judge Patrick Miller sentenced Mr. Ely to 30 years in prison with 15 years fixed, meaning he will be eligible for parole in 15 years. A no contact order was entered for the duration of his sentence.
In March of 2021, a jury found Mr. Ely guilty of lewd conduct with a minor child under 16 from an incident that occurred in March of 2019 during which Mr. Ely had sexual contact with a 7-year-old girl. Between March and July of 2019 and then again in February 2020, Mr. Ely attempted to hire two different people to kidnap and/or kill the victim of the lewd conduct charge. Both people reported that Mr. Ely offered to provide them with a gun and payment in exchange for committing the kidnapping and/or killing of the child and her family. The people who Mr. Ely attempted to hire reported the criminal solicitation to authorities and investigations began. After being found guilty in March of 2021 on the lewd conduct charge, Mr. Ely was found guilty by a jury in April of 2021 of criminal solicitation.
Mr. Ely’s sentencing for the February 2020 solicitation to kidnap and/or murder the victim in this lewd conduct case is set on July 7, 2021 before the Honorable Judge Peter Barton. The maximum penalty for that charge is 12.5 years imprisonment.
“I want to commend the young victim for her bravery and courage in coming forward and throughout the case,” said Jan Bennetts, Ada County Prosecutor. “Thank you also to the Boise Police Department for their thorough investigations and hard work on these cases.”