News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Bruce Kinsey testifies on Tuesday next to Judge Alan Curtis during the preliminary examination for Joshua Wirgau and Brad Srebnik.

ALPENA — Bruce Kinsey was sentenced to sentenced to 388 days in jail, with credit for 388 days served and two years probation on Tuesday after pleading guilty to lying to police officers during the investigation into the alleged murders of Brynn Bills and Abby Hill.

“I would just like to apologize to the court, to the prosecution, and to the officers for not being truthful sooner,” Kinsey said right before his sentence was announced.

Kinsey was originally charged with one count of lying to a peace officer in a violent crime investigation and one count of perjury during a prosecutor’s investigative subpoenas. The second charge had a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Those charges were the result of Kinsey giving repeated false statements to law enforcement officers during interviews with them. Kinsey pleaded guilty to the first charge and the second one was dismissed.

As part of his plea deal, Kinsey testified on Tuesday in the preliminary examination of Brad Srebnik and Joshua Wirgau, who are charged in the deaths of Hill and Bills.

Srebnik is charged with two counts of premeditated murder, weapons charges, and disinterment and mutilation of a body.

Wirgau faces one count of premeditated murder, disinterment, and weapons charges, and a count of accessory after the fact to a felony.

After testifying, Kinsey was taken back to the Alpena County Jail, from where he appeared for his sentencing hearing via Zoom. He was represented by attorney William Pfeifer.

If the Wirgau/Srebnik case goes to trial, Kinsey will be expected to testify again and, in the event that his testimony is truthful, his probation will end as soon as it is over.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office previously said Kinsey lied to officers about the location of where he picked up Srebnik and Wirgau at an unspecified date.

That lie came while Kinsey was questioned at the Michigan State Police-Alpena Post in February 2022. At that time, Kinsey told police and the prosecution he picked up Srebnik and Wirgau near the intersection of Lacomb and Haken roads in Alpena Township at an unspecified date.

Court documents allege that the pickup actually happened near the Lafarge Alpena plant, court documents allege.

A sentencing hearing for Kinsey was originally scheduled in March in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court, but was adjourned after the Attorney’s General Office requested it be pushed back.

This story has been updated to reflect that Bruce Kinsey was sentenced to 388 days in jail, with credit for 388 days served, in addition to two years probation. His sentence was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.