A mother has been jailed for more than 16 years for the murder of a man who allegedly beat up her 19-year-old son with a baseball bat, after a judge dismissed pleas for leniency because she is a “caring, compassionate person”.
Amber Kay Ahrens was sentenced on Wednesday to 195 months in prison and three years probation for the 2020 killing of David Leddy in Wichita, Kansas, according to The Wichita Eagle.
Ahrens, 43, shot Mr Leddy, 53, in the head and left him dead in the front yard of his home along the 1200 block of North Pinecrest following an altercation in the early hours of 17 June 2020.
The shooting unfolded when Ahrens confronted Mr Leddy about an earlier incident between the 53-year-old and her adult son.
Police said Mr Leddy had attacked the 19-year-old with a baseball bat because he was at his home and his vehicle had been damaged.
When Ahrens heard about the encounter, police said she left the casino she was at with her friends and jumped in a car.
She confronted Mr Leddy in his driveway and pulled out a revolver, shooting him once above his left ear.
Ahrens then left the scene and threw the firearm away.
She was arrested three weeks later and charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. She pleaded guilty to the charges in November.
Ahrens’ attorney Gerard Scott had pleaded with the judge for leniency at her sentencing, saying that Mr Leddy was the “aggressor” and that she had shot him when he threatened to beat her too.
“Amber Ahrens is a caring, compassionate person who often puts others first. Caring compassionate people are capable of great rage in situations when they perceive others have suffered wrongs,” the attorney wrote to the judge in a motion seen by The Wichita Eagle.
“What happened the night of this case was the perfect storm for her acting out on her fear and anger.”
But Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Syrios disagreed, ruling that there was “no substantial and compelling basis” to be lenient in sentencing.
