DA dismisses homicide case against Wichita man after new info surfaces
The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office has dropped its case against a Wichita man accused in a fatal shooting in a neighborhood near 21st and Woodlawn in 2020.
The voluntary manslaughter charge filed against Zachary Lee Province was dismissed on Feb. 3, court records show.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said the primary reason for the dismissal is “that new information came to light that negatively impacted our ability to overcome a self-defense claim.”
“We no longer believed we had evidence sufficient to overcome that defense and meet our burden,” he said by email.
Province was charged in the June 29, 2020, shooting death of 25-year-old Joshua Steele outside of 6913 E. Ayesbury Circle in Wichita. Wichita police have said Steele and his girlfriend were there, at the home of a friend, when two men showed up around 5 a.m. to retrieve a car that Steele’s girlfriend had borrowed from another person but failed to return.
Steele’s girlfriend told police Province shot Steele in the chest with her gun after Steele kicked at him for trying to take it away from her, a probable cause affidavit says. She told police she was holding the gun at her side when Province approached her.
Province pointed to Steele’s girlfriend in court filings, claiming she pointed the gun at him when he showed up at the house and fired, striking him in the hip and Steele in the chest, as he swatted at it.
This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 2:01 PM.
