Man gets 89 years for shooting wife, kids in west Wichita

A Wichita man was ordered Friday to spend 89 years in prison for trying to kill his family in 2014.

An assistant to Sedgwick County District Court Judge Eric Yost, who imposed the 1,068-month term, said Pettix McMillan will serve more than double the sentence he was expected to receive under Kansas sentencing guidelines. Jurors in June agreed with prosecutors that there were aggravating factors – or elements that support a harsher than usual sentence – in the case when they convicted McMillan of three counts of attempted first-degree murder, the assistant said.

McMillan, 40, was accused of shooting his wife during an argument in the garage of their west Wichita home, then of shooting his 5- and 13-year-old sons in the head.

All survived the March 14, 2014, attack.

An attorney for McMillan, in a court document, asked the judge to impose less than the expected sentence, saying his client was “remorseful,” “not a danger to society” and that he had “momentarily lost his bearings” when he shot his family.

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 8:40 PM with the headline "Man gets 89 years for shooting wife, kids in west Wichita ."