After a fight over missing pain pills turned deadly, a Wichita man is going to prison

A Wichita man has been sentenced to 10 years, three months in prison for a fatal shooting in Haysville two years ago.

Justin Lee Welch, 27, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to second-degree unintentional but reckless murder and aggravated robbery in the Feb. 10, 2022, killing of Vennie K. Kongvongsay, 23, of Wichita. Welch’s co-defendant, 29-year-old Jim Sanchez, is scheduled for sentencing July 1 on the same counts. Sanchez entered a no-contest plea on May 7, court records show.

Kongvongsay was shot during a confrontation where Welch and Sanchez accused him of stealing pain pills from Welch’s uncle and not repaying a $40 drug debt. Authorities have said an angry Welch and Sanchez drove Kongvongsay to 86th Street South and Broadway, confronted him about the missing medication and stole his cellphone. Kongvongsay was shot around 3:30 a.m. as Welch and Sanchez drove away, court records show.

A homeowner in the area found Kongvongsay’s body in their backyard about 10 hours later.

Welch and Sanchez initially blamed each other for the killing, but a factual basis included in Sanchez’s plea agreement says he fired the fatal shots. The factual basis cites a law enforcement interview where Welch provided details of Kongvongsay’s death. In that interview, Welch told authorities Sanchez shot “one or two rounds from a handgun” at the victim “as they drove by” him. Welch and Sanchez were arrested in March 2022.

Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Goering handed down Welch’s sentence on Thursday.

“Judge Goering sentenced Welch to 123 months on the murder count and 61 months on the robbery count,” Dan Dillon, a spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, said. “Judge followed the plea agreement and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.”

Goering also ordered Welch to serve three years of post-release supervision after he’s released from prison, Dillon said.

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