Man pleads guilty in 2014 Kingman County slaying
A Harper County man on Tuesday pleaded guilty to killing a Nashville, Kan., man last February.
Jeffery Hartpence, 36, admitted to first-degree felony murder in the shooting death of Curtis Shelton, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a news release. He originally was charged with second-degree intentional murder, according to district court records.
Hartpence is scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. June 5 in Kingman County court; the expected sentence is life imprisonment without parole eligibility for 20 years. Judge Larry T. Solomon accepted his plea.
Shelton, 57, was found dead in his home Feb. 21, 2014 by a Kingman County sheriff’s deputy sent to check his welfare. An autopsy showed Shelton died from multiple gunshot wounds, the sheriff’s office said last February.
A second man, Kingman resident Dean Cowles, is being tried May 11 on second-degree murder in connection with Shelton’s death, according to Schmidt and court records. Authorities jailed him the day after Shelton’s body was found, according to a news release from the Kingman County Sheriff’s Office from the day of his arrest.
Cowles, 47, has pleaded not guilty, court records show.
Reach Amy Renee Leiker at 316-268-6644 or aleiker@wichitaeagle.com. Follow her on Twitter: @amyreneeleiker.
This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Man pleads guilty in 2014 Kingman County slaying."