A Fort Lewis College student suspected of arranging a murder-for-hire scheme against another student was formally charged this week in 6th Judicial District Court.
Jackson Keller, a 19-year-old freshman and linebacker on the college’s football team, was arrested Jan. 29 on suspicion of criminal solicitation for first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a weapon on college grounds. The target of the alleged hit was a fellow football player and Keller’s dorm neighbor.
According to a court document, Keller faces charges for menacing, a felony, and unlawful possession of a firearm on college property, a misdemeanor.
He appeared Monday via Webex for filing of charges.
Keller’s defense lawyer asked La Plata County Court Judge Douglas Reynolds to dismiss charges against him, saying there was insufficient probable cause for either of the charges and that the second charge contradicted itself. Initially, a second felony count had been filed, but that was apparently a mistake on the prosecution’s side.
Judge Reynolds asked the defense to submit a written complaint to the court.
The revised charges were then filed later this week against Keller.
According to an arrest affidavit, Keller tried to arrange a hit on the other student, also a member of the football team, following a series of conflicts between the two men.
He was reported to have first offered a mutual acquaintance $500 to carry out the hit, who refused.
Keller then allegedly contacted a group of men from Colorado Springs, asking if they could “put a hat on” his teammate and dorm neighbor – all in the presence of the first person Keller had asked to carry out the deed. The three men agreed, and Keller was reportedly seen sending a CashApp transaction of $500 to them.
The affidavit said the person Keller had initially tried to recruit told the victim, who passed the information on to housing officials and subsequently law enforcement.
Keller was questioned by law enforcement and denied putting a hit out, the affidavit said.
Keller agreed to allow officers to look at his phone, but said he wanted to call his father first. On security footage from the interview room, Keller appeared to be “quickly moving through apps on his phone” while on speakerphone with his father, the affidavit said.
Keller then told officers that his father told him not to answer any further questions without an attorney. He was booked into La Plata County Jail later that day.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
