‘More than just murder’: Wichita man sentenced in killing over tryst with child’s mom
A 30-year-old man convicted in a fatal shooting at a southeast Wichita duplex in 2019 has been ordered to serve at least 54 years in prison for first-degree premeditated murder and other charges.
Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl sentenced Chevy Omar Jones on Friday to life in prison, plus 31 months, for the Dec. 31, 2019, shooting death of 31-year-old Robert Junior of Wichita, for ramming into an unmarked police car when law enforcement tried to arrest him a few days later, and for assaulting and strangling his child’s mother in October 2019. A jury found Jones guilty of the murder, misdemeanor battery, criminal damage to property, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated domestic battery and misdemeanor domestic battery after a weeklong trial in April.
The life sentence carries parole eligibility after 51.5 years. At whatever point Jones is granted parole, he will start serving the 31-month sentence.
Prosecutors have said Jones gunned down Junior in a fit of anger after finding out his child’s mother had an intimate relationship with him the previous summer. According to statements in court, Jones used another woman’s login information to access her social media accounts, pretended to be her in messages to Junior asking to meet up and then shot him in the doorway of his home in the 8500 block of East Parkmont, near Pawnee and Rock.
Junior died at a Wichita hospital after a neighbor found him near the driveway.
Jones claims he’s innocent — that another man murdered Junior — and that police conducted a poor investigation where evidence, including a cellphone, wasn’t properly secured, that search warrants for social media accounts weren’t sought and that a key prosecution witness had lied. Defense lawyer David Miller argued Friday that the blunders, coupled with other information jurors never heard, warranted a new trial because “there is considerable doubt” about his guilt.
But the judge disagreed, saying the jury’s guilty verdict “reflected what the evidence showed” and that there had been enough “to connect the dots.”
Friday in court, family members said Junior, an aircraft worker who helped organize a 2019 event to unite the community after a rapper’s death, was a loving father and “contributor to society” who Jones killed “to prove a point.”
“What he did was more than just murder. ... My children’s lives have never been the same,” the mother of Junior’s children, Precious Lipps, said as other relatives called for Jones to receive the maximum punishment available.
“No matter how many years you give him, (it) ain’t enough,” Junior’s stepfather said.
Jones, who had to be removed briefly from the courtroom for having an outburst during the family’s comments, told the judge that he is a decent human being who at times “blindly followed the wrong crowd.” He said he felt bad for the family but insisted he didn’t kill Junior and would have never taken things with him “that far.”
“I didn’t murder Robert Junior,” he said.
Prosecutors asked Dahl to make Jones serve a full prison term for each victim back-to-back, plus up the parole eligibility on Jones’ life sentence from 50 to 51.5 years under a provision of Kansas law that allows the increase for defendants with significant criminal histories. Jones has more than 20 prior convictions.
“The sentence is the right thing to do, the fair thing to do,” Dahl said. He ordered Jones to serve the sentences for the rest of the crimes concurrently.
The defense lawyer wanted all of the sentences to be served simultaneously and have Jones eligible for parole sooner, in 50 years. He told the judge Jones is not a violent man and that on that timeline “he’ll be 80 years old before he ever sees the parole board.”
Jones plans to appeal.
This story was originally published September 30, 2024 at 3:09 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article said Chevy Jones used a social media account that belonged to his child’s mother to communicate with Robert Junior. It was a different woman’s social media account.
