HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The jury in the case against a Hutchinson man came up with virtually the same verdict as with a co-defendant, Troy Bell charged with the same crimes.
The jury rejected the states argument that Jordon LeShore is guilty of attempted 1st degree murder or even attempted 2nd degree murder. They instead found him guilty of aggravated battery for the attack on Jeffrey Payne. They also found him guilty of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary and a second count of aggravated battery.
LeShore is now guilty of being one of the men who went to the home of Jeffrey Payne back on February 18, 2013 and beat and stabbed him almost to death. He had been beaten, then stabbed 23-times in the attack.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell called the alleged crimes a part of a “savage home invasion” and says the defendant was angry over his mother being slapped. In fact says Maxwell, “he was raging.”
The defense contended that LeShore wasn’t directly involved in the beating and stabbing, in fact says Public Defender Sarah McKinnon, it was Jordon LeShore that pushed his brother Joseph out the door to get him to stop attacking Payne. But, Maxwell countered that there was no evidence presented to support the defense claim.
The two Leshore brothers were upset over their mother being slapped so hard that she was knocked to the ground. The state says they came to Payne’s home to get revenge, however it wasn’t even Payne who attacked their mother, it was allegedly another man, Brice Reed. They attacked Payne thinking he wanted revenge after allegedly being robbed of his marijuana at gun point by Joseph LeShore. The LeShore brothers believed that Payne and Reed had gone to their mothers home to find Joseph as revenge for the robbery and that’s when the slapping incident occurred.
LeShore is already serving a sentence for two separate cases from 2009 and 2010. The 2009 case includes two convictions for aggravated burglary and in 2010, he was convicted of obstructing the legal process. He has been serving his sentence at the Norton Correctional Facility
With the jury verdict, Judge Tim Chambers set sentencing in the case for June 6.
Bell was recently sentenced to 55-months in prison for the same crimes.