Man who stabbed and left friend to die in Wichita street gets 25 years in prison
A Sedgwick County judge on Wednesday ordered a 55-year-old man to spend 25 years, 8 months in prison for stabbing a friend to death on a north Wichita street in 2018.
Otis Johnson Jr. of Wichita fatally stabbed 68-year-old Leroy J. Hudson Jr. during an argument, left him lying in the street near 17th and Erie and stole his truck on June 8, 2018, authorities have previously said. People living in the neighborhood told police they saw one of the men fling the other out of the truck then tackle and punch him in the street before driving off. After his arrest, Johnson told police he dropped off Hudson, who sometimes drove him to jobs, at a house that day and had permission to take the truck after they bought $600 worth of crack cocaine together.
Hudson had “multiple portions of crack cocaine within his hands” when he died, according to Johnson’s arrest affidavit.
A friend of Johnson’s told police that Johnson “was high and ... wanted to go get some more cocaine” the day of the stabbing, the arrest affidavit says. Authorities found blood in the truck.
Johnson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery on Feb. 7, court records show. He tried to withdraw the plea last week — arguing in a written motion that he didn’t receive medication in jail to treat a mental illness and “therefore was unable and did not appreciate what he was doing when he entered his plea” — but Judge Jeffrey Syrios denied the request.
Syrios sentenced Johnson to prison for 308 months Wednesday morning, Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon said by email.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 3:39 PM.
