Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Kevin Ellis was sentenced to 15 years to life for murdering his brother-in-law.
- Judge Griffin highlighted Ellis' premeditated actions and the impact on multiple lives.
- In a jail phone call, Ellis said he warned his mother the killing plot was a bad idea.
PROVO — A man who will be going to prison for shooting and killing his brother-in-law admitted in a jail phone call that he had told his mom that the plot to kill the man was a bad idea.
"I warned her, I literally warned her. I said, 'This will change so many lives, you don't even know how many lives this is going to change,'" Kevin Ellis said to his sister shortly after he was found guilty in January.
That phone call was made from the Utah County Jail shortly after his trial and was played Tuesday during Ellis' sentencing hearing. A jury found him guilty of murder during his trial in January but found him not guilty of conspiring with his mother and sister to kill Matthew Restelli.
"I don't remember exactly what I said, but I know I got it across — 'This is not the best idea you're having, like think about it for a second,'" Ellis told his sister of the conversation he had with his mother before the killing occurred on July 12, 2024. "That's why I feel so much blame, because I didn't step up at that point and be like, 'You know what, no. I need to step up and take my own advice.' ... I trusted her."
'Coldly plotted'
Fourth District Judge Roger Griffin referred to that phone call Tuesday before ordering Ellis to serve consecutive prison sentences for shooting and killing Matt Restelli.
"You clearly could have said no ... and this incident wouldn't have occurred, and you didn't have the courage or the desire to say no," the judge said.
He said Restelli's brother can't replace the father of Ellis' niece and nephew, and emphasized that the ramifications of Ellis' actions will continue for the rest of their lives. He called the case a "clear tragedy."
"This wasn't an action of passion, it wasn't a spur of the moment action, it was something that was coldly plotted out by you, it was something that you knew you shouldn't be doing," Griffin said.
He called Ellis' actions deliberate and said they were done "solely for the convenience of your sister," to prevent her from returning to California to get a divorce.
Ellis was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life in prison for murder, a first-degree felony; one to 15 years for obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and two terms of zero to five years for domestic violence in the presence of a child, a third-degree felony. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.
He was also ordered to serve zero to five years in prison for purchase or transfer of a dangerous weapon along with one year for possession of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor.
Ellis shot Restelli on July 12, 2024 just after he arrived at the American Fork home of Ellis' mother with intentions to bring his wife and children back to their home in California. His wife, Kathryn Restelli, had called him and led him to believe that she wanted to reconcile. Prosecutors have alleged Ellis conspired with his mom and sister, who admitted to the conspiracy.
'An unmistakable evil act'
Diane Restelli said Tuesday that nothing prepared her for losing her son, and for the hole in her family's hearts and for the anguish that will stretch for generations.
"You loaded seven shots into him and savagely killed him as if you were hunting a wild animal. What pleasure did you get out of this?" she asked Ellis. "This is an unmistakable evil act by a person who I'm ashamed to call a human."
She said her son always worked for solutions and loved his family members to a fault.
"I shudder with the fact he was hurt, dying and scared. Your family provided no assistance and watched him die. How heartless and evil," Diane Restelli said.
Mark Restelli said his brother Matt Restelli was loyal, and that loyalty extended to Ellis, his brother-in-law, whom he wanted to feel like family.
"The man who went out of his way to welcome you, to trust you, to treat you like a brother was the same man you shot in the back," he said.
Mark Restelli talked about raising Ellis' two youngest children, now 5 and 8, as they are dealing with a loss no one should have to deal with.
"Our entire family has been permanently changed; there is no moving on from this. There's only learning to live with scars," he said.
Both family members asked for the maximum possible sentence for Ellis.
Ellis doesn't speak
Defense attorney Scott Williams said he advised Ellis not to give a statement at the sentencing hearing. He cited other cases and possible appeals that could be impacted by him making a statement. Ellis' mother, Tracey Grist, is charged with conspiring to murder her son-in-law, and her trial is set to begin on April 13. Kathryn Restelli pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy to commit her husband's murder, along with felony discharge of a firearm, and was sentenced to at least seven years and up to life in prison.
"This phone call is remarkable," Williams said, referring to the jail call, "because there's a statement there, and the whole world knows I didn't advise it to happen."
He said Ellis never contested that he shot and killed Matt Restelli, and he conceded some of the charges. Williams argued for the sentences to run at the same time, claiming the legal reasons the state cited to run them consecutively were not legally sound.
Deputy Utah County attorney Adam Pomeroy had invited the judge to consider the number of lives changed, and how Ellis had recognized beforehand that the killing plot was a bad idea.
He said to consciously kill a family member feet from that family member's children deserves consecutive sentences. Even though evidence shows Grist was the ringleader, Pomeroy said firing the gun was still Ellis' decision.
