A 64-year-old homeless man has been ordered to serve 17 years and 10 months in prison. David Chandler of Wichita was convicted of second-degree intentional murder for participating in a deadly attack on another homeless man on the Seneca Street Bridge.
In November a Sedgwick County jury found Chandler guilty of killing 30-year-old Blake Barnes. Barnes had been severely beaten with metal pipes or bars. He died at a Wichita hospital.
According to court records, Chandler and Abel Molina were camping under the bridge when they found Barnes rummaging through Chandler's tent and allegedly stealing a walking stick. Chandler and Molina beat him in retaliation as motorists looked on. The records say the pair then left him on the bridge to die.
