Wichita man gets 5-year sentence for fatally beating neighbor with table leg in 2018
A Wichita man will serve five years, four months in prison for beating his 55-year-old neighbor to death with a table leg in June 2018, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
Calvin R. Thornton, 63, was sentenced Feb. 17 on counts of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated battery in the killing of Eula Duncan. Authorities have said Thornton hit Duncan’s head, chest, stomach and legs several times with a wooden table leg at her apartment, 1212 S. Longfellow, sometime between June 26 and June 30, 2018, during a fight where he alleged she called him a homosexual slur and attacked him first. Officers found Duncan dead on her living room couch near the bloodied table leg during a welfare check on June 30, 2018, a few days after authorities think she died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Thornton, who was originally charged with second-degree intentional murder, pleaded guilty to amended counts on Dec. 13 ahead of his jury trial.
In addition to the 64-month prison sentence, Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana ordered Thornton to pay $2,514.54 in restitution to the Crime Victims Compensation Board, the DA’s Office said.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 12:10 PM.
