Wichita man found guilty of murdering QuikTrip security guard in 2021
A Wichita man was convicted Friday of murdering a QuikTrip security guard who told him to turn down his music or leave the downtown gas station at Broadway Wichita man Laroy Monzell West, 44, has been convicted of murdering QuikTrip security guard Will Robinson, 39, who was shot dead in an alleyway across from the store on May 5, 2021. Robinson, a husband and father of two known for helping homeless people, had told West to turn down his music or leave the downtown gas station at Broadway and Murdock. Prosecutors allege that West taunted Robinson, calling him a coward, and then shot him out of anger after some punches were thrown. He was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and could face life in prison with no parole eligibility for 50 years for the murder. West plans to appeal the verdict. He insisted that Robinson and the victims were the aggressors and that he was forced to use his gun to defend himself.
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A Wichita man was convicted Friday of murdering a QuikTrip security guard who told him to turn down his music or leave the downtown gas station at Broadway and Murdock in 2021.
A Sedgwick County jury deliberated for around two hours before finding Laroy Monzell West, 44, guilty of first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 39-year-old Will Robinson, who was shot in the face in an alleyway across from the store on May 5, 2021. Robinson, a husband and father of two known for helping homeless people, had escorted West off the property before the shooting.
Prosecutors say instead of leaving, West taunted and called Robinson a coward to lure him across the street and shot him out of anger after some punches were thrown. West shot him in the face, prosecutors say, because he knew Robinson was wearing a protective bullet-proof vest. One witness testified that Robinson had his hands up before he was shot.
Robinson died two days later. In addition to working at QuikTrip, Robinson had also served about 10 years on the Wichita police department. The Broadway and Murdock store where he was working the night of the shooting later closed; the property is now occupied by a Jump Start.
West will be sentenced Dec. 8 by District Judge Bruce Brown for Robinson’s murder, as well as other charges, including two counts of aggravated assault tied to an earlier incident where he threatened with a gun La Chinita Mexican Restaurant owner Edward Sebastian and Sebastian’s stepson after they caught him walking through the back of the restaurant’s property on March 28, 2021.
Jurors also found West guilty of two counts of unlawfully possessing a firearm even though a prior felony conviction for selling cocaine in Wyandotte County in 2009 prohibited it. The jury acquitted him Friday of one count of aggravated assault that alleged he pointed his gun at a man who saw him shot Robinson.
For the murder, West faces a sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 50 years.
West plans to appeal, his attorney said after the verdict.
West, who took the witness stand Thursday, insisted that Robinson and the men at La Chinita had been the aggressors and that he “was forced” to use his gun to defend himself, although there was no evidence any of the victims threatened his life or pulled a weapon of any sort.
The night he shot Robinson, he pulled his loaded gun from a zippered pocket in his backpack and fired once to “get that man off of me,” he told jurors.
Afterward, he walked home, washed and disposed of his clothes and backpack, hid the gun under some leaves by creek or river and contacted friends and relatives who urged him to turn himself in, he testified. Police arrested him the next day while he was walking near 19th and Broadway.
Prosecutors Jason Roach and Staci Lane told the jury Friday in their closing arguments that West killed Robinson because he “didn’t like being told what to do” and “felt disrespected” when Robinson told him to turn down his music or leave the gas station. He purposely provoked Robinson because “he wanted to start a fight,” Lane said.
They argued that West wasn’t entitled to use deadly force to defend himself because he was never at imminent risk of great bodily harm or death, and state law doesn’t allow a person to provoke a fight specifically so they can justify hurting or killing someone else.
“A fistfight is not great bodily harm (or) death. Shooting someone in the face is,” Roach said.
“The evidence tells you he is guilty.”
In his closing remarks, defense attorney Gerard Scott told jurors they “can’t convict someone based on personality” or for “having a chip” on their shoulder, and that it was up to prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that West hadn’t acted in self-defense.
“The (state’s) theory of the case is that if you call somebody a name, you forfeit your right to defend yourself … and that’s not the law of the state,” he said.
He asked the jury to find West not guilty.
“Mr. West defended himself. He’s entitled to do that.”
话题: Crime, Kansas, Wichita