Wichita man jailed after trailer park killing has case dismissed after other pleas

A 21-year-old Wichita man who was jailed after police say he fatally shot another man during a fight at a south Wichita mobile home park has pleaded guilty to robbery and gun crimes in other cases — and had charges tied to events surrounding the killing dismissed, Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon said Monday.

Laquavion Bentley, who had been facing charges in four Sedgwick County District Court cases, entered his guilty pleas Friday. One of those cases is connected to the Sept. 15, 2022, shooting death of 21-year-old Devin R. Bills of Wichita at Riverside Mobile Home Community, 4560 S. Hydraulic. Bills died after Bentley shot him twice in the torso during an argument that started while they were hanging out with friends, drinking alcohol and using “Xanax bars,” a probable cause affidavit released in the case says.

Witnesses told police Bills and Bentley both had guns, and at least one person said Bills fired shots first, the affidavit says. The shooting happened around 1:30 a.m.

Witnesses gave differing stories about what started the fight, including comments made about people wanting to leave that night and accusations about fake drugs, the affidavit says. Police arrested Bentley after he left the mobile home park. He later pleaded not guilty to charges filed by the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

“As part of the plea negotiations, (the case tied to the fatal shooting) was dismissed when he pled guilty in federal court to charges arising from the same set of facts,” said Dillon, adding: “The plea to the federal charges resulted in a federal prison sentence.”

The federal plea, to one count of possession of an unregistered firearm over a silencer device law enforcement found in Bentley’s dresser when they searched his house after Bills’ shooting, happened in December 2023. In February, Bentley was sentenced to time served in the federal case, court records show.

He has been in custody at the Sedgwick County Jail since then.

On Friday, Bentley admitted to one count of robbery in a 2022 case, one count of criminal possession of a weapon in a separate 2022 case and criminal discharge of a firearm in a 2023 case, his plea agreement says. The presumptive sentences for each of those crimes range from seven months to more than 11 years. Prosecutors plan to ask that his sentences in those cases run consecutive to each other and to his federal sentence, his plea agreement says.

Bentley was originally charged with criminal possession of a weapon by a felon and criminal threat in the Sept. 15, 2022, incident — both counts of which were dismissed along with several charges in the other cases as part of his plea negotiations, court records show. Prosecutors also agreed to forgo filing drug or gun charges in another case from 2023, the plea agreement says.

Bentley’s lawyers are “free to argue for an alternative disposition, which the State will oppose,” according to the agreement.

He is set for sentencing Oct. 9.

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