UPDATE: State troopers face man who tried to kill them on highway

A man convicted of attempting to kill two Pennsylvania state troopers was sent to state prison Friday for up to 110 years.

Daniel Clary, 22, was sentenced to 53 and a half to 110 years in prison for attempting to kill state troopers Seth Kelly and Ryan Seiple during a shootout Nov. 7, 2017, on the side of Route 33 in Plainfield Township.

Kelly was shot four times. He arrived at a local hospital clinically dead. He spent 12 days in a medically induced coma and 25 days in the hospital. He doesn't remember the shootout.

Kelly told Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta he suffered "nightmares nonstop for 12 straight days" in the coma due to medication.

"I felt as if I was in hell," Kelly said.

His wife, Philomena Kelly, testified about the anguish she felt when she learned a trooper had been shot, then learned it was her husband.

"It was and always will be the worst day of my life," she said.

Seiple pulled Clary over for speeding, issued a ticket and told him he could drive away. After Seiple walked away from Clary's car, he motioned him back for help explaining the ticket. At that point Seiple suspected Clary was under the influence of marijuana and called in Kelly for backup.

Clary failed field sobriety tests. When Seiple told Clary he was under arrest, chaos ensued, with the officers deploying Tasers and struggling unsuccessfully to subdue Clary until he ran to his car, pulled out a gun and opened fire.

Philomena Kelly and Ryan Seiple called Clary "evil."

Seiple said he hopes Clary "faces a prison sentence that keeps him locked in a steel cage for the rest of his living, breathing life."

The entire incident was captured on dashcam video. The video was a key piece of evidence leading to Clary's conviction at trial on June 29.

Clary's attorney Janet Jackson said Clary was scared and shot at the troopers because he feared for his life. Whether that fear was reasonable, that fear motivated Clary to act, she said.

Clary's uncle, David Clary, testified that head injuries from sports and assaults changed his nephew's mental health forever. He called Clary a "good kid" who is easily confused. He said Daniel Clary never should have been sold a gun.

"He had been assaulted by multiple people. He suffered brain injuries. And he reacted like someone with serious brain injuries and dysfunction," Jackson said. "There is a reason to show some compassion for Mr. Clary."

A doctor who examined Clary prior to sentencing found he had "personality disorder with paranoid schizo-typal features" which influenced his decisions but did not prevent him from knowing right from wrong.

The judge said Clary told a probation officer prior to sentencing that he called Seiple back to the traffic stop because he was annoyed his time had been wasted and he wanted to waste the officer's time.

Clary told the probation officer had previously used synthetic marijuana and regularly used marijuana, Baratta said.

Clary said he hoped the officers would disarm him like police in movies, according to the judge, who again quoted the probation officer. Clary showed no remorse, the judge said.

"He was all in on a gun battle and if not for heroic efforts of the police officers, the EMTs, the doctors and some amazing physical constitution that (Seth Kelly) could come back from death on several occasions, you would have been looking at the death penalty," Judge Baratta told Clary.

The judge said Clary had a plan to disarm the officer and resist arrest, and he executed that plan. The video shows this to be true, Baratta said.

"He's not a dummy. He certainly wasn't a crazy man or a dummy that day," Baratta said.

The victims agreed that Clary was competent and needs to be held responsible.

"I want you to constantly think every day that the sentence is the result of one person and only one person, you, Clary," Seth Kelly told the defendant.

"You truly should hang your head in shame," Philomena Kelly said.

"He must not be allowed to be back into society and to be free," said Roy Seiple, who is Trooper Ryan Seiple's father and chief of the Colonial Regional Police Department. "Clary made a conscious, calculated decision that day to do what he did."

Clary's address is in Monroe County although he has ties to the Easton area. Assistant District Attorney Terence Houck said his family kicked him out of his home the day before the incident.

Clary went to Easton Area High School, Easton Area Academy and graduated from the Easton Area School District in 2014, the judge said.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.