TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man whose first conviction was overturned by the Kansas Supreme Court has been found guilty again in a death after a barroom fight.
A Shawnee County District Court jury on Monday convicted 29-year-old James Arthur Qualls III of premeditated first-degree murder in the July 2008 death of Joseph Beier. Qualls will be sentenced July 23.
Beier was shot 12 times in a confrontation at the Whiplash Bar. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Qualls testified that he shot Beier in self-defense.
Qualls was first convicted in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison with a mandatory minimum term of 25 years. But the Kansas Supreme Court ordered a new trial after finding that the judge in the first trial gave improper jury instructions.