By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
A 42-year-old Hays man was sentenced last month to more than two and a half years in prison for killing a man outside a Hays bar in June 2023.
Keith Allen Ostrom was initially charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of 63-year-old Larry Braun outside the Horseshoe Bar in Hays on June 25, 2023.
Ostrom was sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 20, to 32 months in prison by Ellis County District Court Judge Glenn Braun.
According to the Hays Police Department, in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 26, 2023, 63-year-old Larry D. Braun was shot in the neck following an incident at the Horseshoe Bar.
Braun died as a result of his wounds, and police arrested Ostrom.
Court documents showed that Ostrom had claimed that the shooting was in self-defense. He, at one point during the investigation, told police that he believed Braun had a knife.
Court documents indicated Ostrom claimed the shooting was self-defense. At one point during the investigation, he told police he believed Braun had a knife.
However, according to the initial police report, Ostrom did not tell police on the scene about the knife.
Ellis County Attorney Robert Anderson said a witness to the event that night, who was sober, told police that Braun did not have a knife, but during grand jury testimony, the witness said Braun did have a knife.
Anderson said the questions about self-defense were the main reason he presented the case to a grand jury.
On Aug. 9, 2023, the 15-member grand jury returned an indictment charging Ostrom with voluntary manslaughter, criminal discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol and endangerment.
In October, Ostrom pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
At sentencing, Ostrom’s attorney requested the judge sentence him to probation instead of prison.
They cited his lack of criminal history, his age, and his current medical condition—he has a kidney condition that requires several dialysis treatments a week—as all reasons why the judge should sentence Ostrom to probation instead of prison.
Braun denied the motion, saying that if you take a life in Ellis County, there have to be consequences.
He sentenced Ostrom to 32 months in prison.