Woman who shot friend in living room chair before Wichita SWAT standoff is sentenced
.JPG "Jessica W. Sanders")
A Sedgwick County judge on Friday sent a 24-year-old woman to prison for more than 13 years for a deadly shooting in the 800 block of North Market on April 19, 2020.
Jessica W. Sanders pleaded guilty last fall to a count of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a 64-year-old friend, Mark Howard of Wichita. Judge Bruce Brown imposed the 166-month prison term, said Dan Dillon, a spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
A Wichita police officer saw Howard dead in a living room chair of his home after following Sanders there from a nearby QuikTrip where she had tried to shoplift around noon on April 19, 2020. Police have previously said Sanders was armed and fired a shot at the ground when an officer investigating the theft approached her and took off, holing up at Howard’s address.
She surrendered after a multi-hour standoff with the Wichita Police Department’s special weapons and tactics, or SWAT, team. Police said previously Sanders shot Howard once in the head before the standoff started.
Mental instability and drugs may have contributed to her behavior, authorities said after her arrest.
Sanders initially pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge. She changed her mind in November, court records show.
