Aug 19, 2021

Kan. man killed friend who refused to give him a ride home

Posted Aug 19, 2021 12:00 AM
Speakman from his 2019 Sedgwick County booking photo
Speakman from his 2019 Sedgwick County booking photo

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man will be sentenced in November after being convicted of beating a friend to death with his bare hands.

Steven Speakman, 37, Wichita, was convicted earlier this month of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 33-year-old Haley Collins, of Bel Aire. Investigators say Speakman and Collins got into an argument that turned physical in the parking lot of a Dillon's store on Aug. 21, 2019.

An affidavit says Collins had refused to give Speakman a ride home. Dillon's employees who witnessed the fight said Speakman punched Collins, jumped on top of him and hit him several more times. Speakman, who was convicted on Aug. 6, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 1.