Parolee pleads guilty to killing Wichita man, 67, in his home in 2021
A parolee charged with stabbing to death a 67-year-old Wichita man nearly two years ago has pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter, Sedgwick County District Court records show.
James Lewis Shaw, 62, will be sentenced Sept. 29 in the Sept. 21, 2021, death of Kurt V. Petersen in his home in the 100 block of North Glenn. Petersen’s caretaker found his body on the kitchen floor while Shaw, whom police have said was an acquaintance, was still inside the house.
Shaw gave police differing stories about what happened that day. Initially, he denied having anything to do with the killing but later admitted picking up a knife and stabbing Petersen in the chest because he didn’t like something Petersen said, according to an affidavit released by the court. Authorities found a bloody knife handle with its blade broken off in the kitchen sink.
GPS location information police obtained from Shaw’s phone showed him arriving at and leaving Petersen’s home several times during the afternoon and evening of Sept. 21, the affidavit says. Petersen’s caretaker alerted police to Petersen’s death around 10 p.m., when he started his shift, according to the affidavit.
Shaw was originally charged with first-degree premeditated murder. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 14 to the voluntary manslaughter charge, which alleges the killing happened “upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion,” court records show. The presumptive sentence for a voluntary manslaughter conviction in Kansas is around 4 1/2 years to around 20 1/2 years in prison, depending on a defendant’s prior criminal history.
Shaw’s jury trial had been scheduled to start Monday.
Shaw’s previous convictions include involuntary manslaughter in a 2014 Wyandotte County case and a 2016 offender registration act violation in Sedgwick County, Kansas Department of Corrections records show.
This story was originally published August 21, 2023 at 11:59 AM.
