Curtis Mitchell sentenced to life in prison for Tanya Tandoc murder

Curtis Mitchell stood in a Sedgwick County courtroom on Thursday, ready to accept his fate.

He didn’t ask for any lesser punishment for his crime of premeditated first-degree murder.

The decision made Mitchell, who pleaded guilty last month to killing local restaurateur Tanya Tandoc, the first person in Sedgwick County to be sentenced under a change in state law that increased the minimum amount of time a person convicted of the offense has to spend in prison before being eligible for parole.

He will serve 50 years behind bars before seeing a parole board for the first time. By then he will be 97.

“The sentence was really a forgone conclusion before we got into court today,” Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said after the hearing.

“It’s a life sentence with parole eligibility. The maximum was 50 years. That’s what Mr. Mitchell asked for.

“He had the option of seeking (parole eligibility after) 25, but that was never part of the discussions.”

Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles but missing his beard, Mitchell, 47, appeared calm as he was ordered to serve the life sentence in Tandoc’s June 3 beating and choking death. Before doling out the punishment, District Judge Terry Pullman told Mitchell that he will serve “every day of 50 years” before he would be considered for release.

At least five other defendants in Sedgwick County murder cases are facing the same sentence, Bennett said – as will everyone else charged with premeditated first-degree murder in killings that happen after July 1, 2014.

‘I know what I did’

Thursday’s ruling came as a quick resolution to a murder case that shook Wichitans who knew Tandoc, who loved her restaurant, Tanya’s Soup Kitchen, or who heard her cheerful voice doling out food commentary periodically on local public radio.

Tandoc, 45, was found dead in her home June 4, and Mitchell was arrested after her friends sent police to check on her welfare.

Twelve days later, Mitchell – once a friend of Tandoc’s and a local musician – pleaded guilty as charged in her killing.

Just 50 days after the murder, Mitchell was again in court asking to be sentenced as expected rather than trying for leniency, rapidly ending what otherwise could have been a long, drawn-out case.

Defense attorney Mark Rudy said after Thursday’s proceeding that Mitchell wanted to accept responsibility for his crime “from the very first time I talked to him.” He said Mitchell refused to consider alternatives that could have resulted in a shorter prison term.

“He stepped up unlike any client I’ve ever had to say, ‘This is what I did. I know what I did, and I’m ready to pay the consequences,’” Rudy said.

Last year, the Legislature increased the minimum amount of time a person given a life prison sentence for a first-degree premeditated murder conviction must serve before seeing a parole board to 50 years. Before, a person would be eligible for parole after 25 years.

Under the new law, a defendant can still argue for the 25-year minimum. Mitchell, however, waived his right to do so.

“As his lawyer I advised him that I could do certain things at trial, I could file certain motions to possibly get a lesser sentence or I could get him convicted of lesser charges,” Rudy said.

“But frankly he was very polite and said, ‘No, thank you. I know what I did. I want to move forward.’”

No friends or family members of Tandoc’s were in court Thursday to address the judge, an opportunity given to crime victims and their loved ones.

But her closest friends, in a statement to The Eagle after the hearing, said they “are not impressed by a polite murderer.”

“Instead of focusing on Curt Mitchell’s demeanor in court, we, Tanya’s friends, want the focus of this tragedy to stay on violence against women,” the statement says.

“His actions in court in no way makes up for his violent behavior when he chose to murder our friend.”

A brutal attack

Mitchell, who had been living in Tandoc’s basement on South Minneapolis since earlier this year, told police he struck Tandoc with his fists without provocation and strangled her when she arrived home on June 3 after an outing. He then bound and dragged her lifeless body into the basement.

Friends notified authorities that something was amiss after Tandoc didn’t show up at her restaurant the next day or to a belly dancing performance she was scheduled to participate in that night during the Wichita River Festival.

Police sent to Tandoc’s house to check on her encountered Mitchell, who claimed his housemate wasn’t home.

But while officers were outside at their patrol cars, Mitchell called 911 and told an emergency dispatcher to send the officers back because he had killed Tandoc in a “crime of passion.”

In the days before her death the pair had argued, and Tandoc had told Mitchell he had to move out of her house. Authorities think she was killed about 24 hours before her body was discovered.

Mitchell was arrested and brought to Sedgwick County District Court on a charge of first-degree murder the following week. He asked to plead guilty – a request granted by Pullman, the judge, on June 16 – and be scheduled for sentencing at the earliest date possible.

In his post-sentencing interview, Bennett called Mitchell’s actions “consistent.” He, like Rudy, said he never saw Mitchell try to get his charges changed or reduced nor try for a less severe punishment.

“From the night the investigation began at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning as I sat there watching his (police) interview through five minutes ago (during sentencing), that’s exactly the attitude that he had – he was remorseful and wanted to take responsibility and did not want to seek to have any mitigation – or any excuses. He was very direct about his responsibility,” Bennett said.

Bennett said the quick resolution makes him feel glad for Tandoc’s family and friends, as well as the community, because now no one has to “sit through a long, drawn-out trial and hear details they probably don’t want to hear about a violent death.”

“Now what’s left is for the family and friends of Miss Tandoc to deal with her loss,” he said. “It’s just a tragic situation.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Curtis Mitchell sentenced to life in prison for Tanya Tandoc murder."