MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A judge on Tuesday denied a request by former state Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown to withdraw his guilty plea in a federal campaign finance case.

Kelsey pleaded guilty last November to two charges: conspiracy to defraud the FEC and aiding and abetting the acceptance of excessive contributions on behalf of a federal campaign. The charges were in relation to Kelsey’s unsuccessful 2016 campaign for the 8th District U.S. Congressional seat.

A year earlier, he had pleaded not guilty, calling the case a “political witch hunt.” But a co-defendant in the case switched his plea to guilty, just before Kelsey changed his plea.

Then, in March of this year, Kelsey asked to withdraw that guilty plea.

Kelsey, the former chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee and a former adjunct professor of constitutional law, argued that he was confused when he pleaded guilty because he was under stress due to a death in the family and the birth of his twins.

Kelsey will now face sentencing in July, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee said.

He faces a maximum penalty of five years on each charge.