Three men enter pleas in Wichita teen’s shooting death, sentencings set for August
Three men involved in the May 20, 2020, fatal shooting of a teen during a marijuana deal at a southeast Wichita apartment complex entered guilty pleas within the past week. Their sentencing hearings have been scheduled for August.
Nathaniel Saunders, 25, on Tuesday pleaded guilty ahead of his jury trial to one count of second-degree murder in the killing of 17-year-old high school student Marcus Sain and one count of aggravated battery, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
Malcolm L. Ganther, 25, pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree reckless murder and aggravated battery, the DA’s Office said.
Last week, on June 15, Jakob O. Cuble entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery, court records show. An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea that allows a defendant to maintain innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to potentially win a conviction.
Cuble, 21, is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 18. Ganther and Saunders are due to be sentenced the following week, on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24.
Prosecutors and police have said Sain was fatally shot at the Fox Run Apartments near Harry and Webb, where he and the other men gathered on May 20, 2020, for a marijuana sale.
According to one of the defendant’s plea agreements, Ganther negotiated a deal over Facebook to sell two ounces of marijuana to Sain. He agreed to meet him in the apartment complex parking lot to complete the transaction. Sain brought Cuble along, the agreement says, and the two met with Ganther inside Ganther’s vehicle sometime between 2 and 3 p.m.
Ganther asked a friend — Saunders — to “act as a lookout” from another vehicle in the parking lot, the plea agreement says.
Saunders told police in an interview that within seconds of packaged marijuana being passed around the men in Ganther’s car, Cuble and Sain both pulled guns and pointed them at Ganther.
“Saunders left his vehicle and approached Ganther’s vehicle on foot from the passenger side” where he “shot Sain through the open passenger window and then fired several shots at Cuble in the back seat,” the plea agreement says.
“Cuble returned fire with his handgun,” the plea agreement says.
Emergency responders found Sain’s body in the parking lot near his gun and packaged marijuana, according to the plea agreement. He was taken to a Wichita hospital for treatment but died the next day from a gunshot wound to his head, his autopsy report says.
Cuble ran off after the shooting and sought hospital treatment for his injuries on his own, authorities have said.
Ganther was arrested the day after Sain’s shooting, and Saunders was arrested three months later.
Police arrested Cuble more than a year later, after authorities offered a reward for tips on his whereabouts.
This story was originally published June 21, 2023 at 3:07 PM.
