ID court summons jury in Boy Scout abuse trial

A district court has summoned 150 potential jurors - about three times the normal amount - in the trial of a Washington state man accused of molesting four boys at a Boy Scout camp in northern Idaho.

An Idaho grand jury has indicted 38-year-old Timothy Andrew Kellis on nine counts of lewd conduct, one count of attempted lewd conduct, and two counts of sexual abuse of a child.

Kellis has pleaded not guilty to charges that he abused boys last summer while working as a counselor at the Camp Grizzly Boy Scout camp in Harvard, Idaho. Kellis, a former high school band director from Tumwater, Wash., is now being held at the Latah County Jail in Moscow on a $200,000 bond.

He faces the possibility of life in prison.

Kellis has also been charged with the second-degree rape of a child in Washington, where he previously worked as a high school band director. Asotin County prosecutors have said they plan to bring the Washington charge against Kellis after he is tried by a jury in Latah County on the Idaho charges.

The 2nd District Court in Latah County normally calls about 50 to 60 prospective jurors in felony trials. Judge John R. Stegner asked for three times that amount, court officials say, because of the nature of the charges.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday and the trial is expected to go on for about a week.

Because the charges were issued through indictments from the grand jury, prosecutors in Latah County were able to bypass preliminary hearings and go to trial faster than they would have in normal trial proceedings.

Along with facing a maximum sentence of life in prison, Kellis could also have to pay $50,000 fines for each of the lewd conduct counts and $50,000 on the sexual abuse counts.

Kellis was an assistant marching band director at Clarkston High School in Washington from 1995 to 2006. Idaho State Police say he also worked as a teacher at Highland High School in Craigmont, Idaho from 2001 to 2006.

He is being represented by Moscow attorney Sunil Ramalingam and judge Stegner has prohibited him from having any contact with or being in the company of minors in the case of his release.