Kentucky Republican pleads guilty to harassing nephew: report

A Kentucky Republican gubernatorial candidate pleaded guilty to menacing and harassing his nephew Wednesday in connection with an incident at a Northern Kentucky farm last year, The Lexington Herald Leader reports.

But Eric Deters’ 270-day jail sentence on three misdemeanor counts (one for menacing and two for harassing communications) was discharged, the report said. He was also facing trespassing charges that were dropped.

Deters pleaded guilty in connection with an Oct. 3 incident that followed his nephew flipping his uncle off near his driveway, the report said.

Deters chased his nephew and later made calls and sent text deemed harassing, the report said. His nephew is identified as “J.D.”

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Deters gained national prominence in MAGA circles last year when he appeared at the right-wing “Freedom Fest” alongside Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

He confirmed the guilty pleas in a Facebook video in which he accepted responsibility but didn’t show much remorse.

“Menacing sounds so much worse than what it is,” Deters said in the video. “Menacing can be simply scaring somebody, OK.”

Deters said a phone call and text message in which he expressed “being upset with what happened” were the basis of the harassment charges.

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“But I want you to know that after the presentation of the prosecution’s case, I decided to plead guilty. The prosecutor did not agree to it, but I just pled directly to the judge and took my chances.”

He said the move led to trespassing charges being dropped.

“Because I felt after listening to the prosecution’s case and my cross-examination, I believed that I was guilty because I admitted to the police officers that I did want to scare him, and sure enough the judge brought that up in sentencing.”

He said he was given a 90-day conditional discharge.

“That means you behave for the next two years. That’s it. I’m not worried about that,” Deters said.

“I was angry about what happened, and I did want to scare him, so I decided to plead guilty. These are misdemeanors, not felonies. They do not affect in any way shape or form my ability to be elected governor or run for governor.

“I want to put this entire thing behind me, and this does it.”