Prison Time In Cochran Photo Case

CANTON, Miss. (AP) – A blogger who pleaded guilty in a conspiracy to breaking in to a nursing home and shooting unauthorized video of the ailing wife of a U.S. senator was sentenced Monday to serve more than two years in prison.

Twenty-nine-year-old Clayton Kelly of Pearl, Mississippi, shot the video of Sen. Thad Cochran’s then-wife in 2014.

On Monday, Mississippi Circuit Judge William Chapman gave Kelly the full five-year maximum sentence, but he’ll be in prison for half that time. The rest is on probation.

Images of Rose Cochran, who had dementia, appeared online briefly during a tough Republican primary. Investigators say Kelly was one of several people who conspired to produce the video suggesting Thad Cochran was having an affair.

Cochran’s campaign said he wasn’t involved in an improper relationship.

Rose Cochran died in December. Thad Cochran last month married a longtime aide.