Wichita man pleads guilty in deadly church parking lot shooting
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- James Sawyer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted robbery
- Sawyer and Philip Walls lured Daniel McPherson to a church lot
- Walls was sentenced in 2024; Sawyer's sentencing is set for September 3, 2025
A 21-year-old Wichita man pleaded guilty this week in a fatal shooting that happened nearly two years ago at a church parking lot.
James Giovanni Lee Sawyer admitted to one count of second-degree intentional murder and one count of attempted aggravated robbery in the December 2023 killing of 34-year-old Daniel McPherson, Sedgwick County District Court records show. He is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 3.
Sawyer is the second person convicted in McPherson’s death. Last year, a Derby man, 19-year-old Philip Lee Walls, was sentenced to 27 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree intentional murder, attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping.
Court records say the men invited McPherson into their car and drove him to an empty parking lot next to a church at Hydraulic and MacArthur after deciding to rob him on Dec. 5, 2023. The violence turned deadly after Sawyer looped a belt around McPherson’s neck and McPherson pulled a gun in response.
After McPherson shot Walls, Sawyer pulled a revolver and fired back several times, striking him in the head, court records say.
After the shootings, Walls and Sawyer dumped McPherson’s body in the parking lot and drove to a hospital in Oklahoma to avoid the attention of law enforcement, court records say. They were arrested there.
Sawyer entered the guilty plea Tuesday.
