SANTA CRUZ — A Watsonville man jailed since the 2020 stabbing death of his younger brother faces a 25-year prison term after accepting a negotiated plea deal Friday.
Joseph Keeler, 32, pleaded no contest before Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Denine Guy to charges of voluntary manslaughter, criminal threats, possession of more than 600 images of child pornography, sexual battery by restraint, eight counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of residential burglary.
The plea deal between Keeler and the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, which would require Keeler to register as a sex offender for life upon his release from prison, came after extensive negotiations that played out over more than four years. Keeler was arrested Jan. 10, 2020, related to the death of his disabled 26-year-old brother, Christopher Keeler. The younger Keeler died at his home on the 1400 block of Green Valley Road after receiving a stab wound to the back of his knee joint that severed an artery — one of seven distinct stab wounds. The two men, who lived next door to each other, apparently were in a dispute before the stabbing.
Keeler is due to return for formal sentencing at 9 a.m., May 29 in Deptartment 3.