Wichita man sentenced for ‘racially motivated’ murder
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Wichita man was sentenced on Tuesday for the murder of Emmanuel Hardy on Memorial Day 2022.
Roger Gale Jr. was sentenced to 330 months in prison for second-degree murder, which he pleaded guilty to on Jan. 8, 2024. That equals out to 27 years and six months.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney said Gale pleaded guilty with the added stipulation that the State possessed sufficient facts to establish the crime was “racially motivated.”
“Based upon the finding that the crime was motivated in part by the race of the victim, Judge Chrystal Krier doubled Gale’s sentence from 165 to 330 months in prison in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections,” The DA’s office said.
The shooting happened in the 4900 block of E. Harry St. on May 28, 2022. Officers responded around 9:45 p.m. to a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found Hardy, 30, located outside his home with gunshot wounds.
Hardy was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
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The probable cause affidavit says a woman who was with Hardy the night of the shooting told detectives she had been on a date with him that night. She said that while they were outside her house, she talked to a nearby man and woman about picking up their dog’s waste. Then she and Hardy drove away.
According to the affidavit, the woman said she noticed an SUV following them close to her bumper. She said she pulled into a parking lot, and the vehicle pulled in on her passenger side. She said a man got out of the vehicle’s passenger side and said, “Remember me?”
The woman said she and Hardy stood outside her car, and the man pulled out a silver revolver with a black handle. She told police that the man said a racial slur and pointed the gun in her face. She said Hardy pushed her back, and she ran.
She told police she looked back and saw Hardy cross his hands in front of his face. Then, she said she heard three gunshots and saw the shooter get back into the vehicle.
The revolver was later located in a bedroom at a home police searched. The cylinder was fully loaded with cartridges, but some appeared to have been fired.
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