Wichita police arrest man on suspicion of murder in 2014 shooting

Wichita police have arrested a man on suspicion of murder in connection to a 2014 shooting.

Sedgwick County Jail booking reports show the Wichita Police Department arrested James Leon Edwards on Sunday on suspicion of first-degree murder. The police case number for Edwards’s arrest is connected to the Oct. 9, 2014, shooting death of Nathaniel Jackson, court records show.

Emergency dispatchers received a call late that night from inside a home in the 1500 block of North Minnesota, police said at the time. Jackson was the only person found inside. He was taken to a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced dead.

Sedgwick County District Court records show Michael D. Davis was originally charged with first-degree murder in Jackson’s death. Prosecutors said the killing happened while in the commission of an inherently dangerous felony — a cocaine sale, an aggravated robbery or both. Edwards was listed as a witness for the prosecution in the case.

The case was ultimately dropped at the request of the state in January 2015, and Davis was released from jail.

District Attorney Marc Bennett previously told The Eagle that his office asked the court to dismiss the charge against Davis after “concerns came to light during the course of the investigation.” He did not give specifics. The dismissal was made without prejudice, meaning the case could be refiled later.

“We only have one chance to get it right,” Bennett said.

Edwards, 57, of Wichita, is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond on the murder charge and for a state parole violation.

Kansas Department of Corrections records show Edwards was listed as an absconder July 23 after he was paroled in April. His criminal history on the KDOC website shows previous convictions in Sedgwick County in a 2017 attempted criminal possession of a weapon case, a 2013 theft, a 2009 theft and aggravated battery case and a 1998 robbery.

This story was originally published September 2, 2019 at 11:23 AM.