photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Bishop I. Mendoza appears at his sentencing hearing on Monday, June 27, 2022, in Douglas County District Court.

Updated at 4:15 p.m. Monday

Amid an outpouring of tears from friends and family, a Lawrence man was sentenced Monday in Douglas County District Court to more than three years in prison in the shooting death of a toddler in Douglas County.

The man, Bishop I. Mendoza, 21, pleaded no contest in April to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of endangering a child. The charges came after Mendoza’s cousin, Legend King, age 2, was found shot on Sept. 17, 2021, in the 1500 block of Wedgewood Drive.

Around 20 people attended the hearing to support Mendoza and several spoke on his behalf before Judge Kay Huff sentenced Mendoza to 38 months.

The toddler’s mother, Jessica Tolbert, advocated for no prison time, saying that Mendoza would never intentionally hurt someone. She said, “I was in Texas when I was told what happened. When I got back, the first conversation I had was with Bishop. I saw how broken and hurt he was.”

She also told the court, “We don’t blame Bishop for this. Our lives are already changed, and not a day goes by that we are not reminded.”

Mendoza’s own mother, Patricia Tolbert, said, “Society has created a vision that carrying a gun makes one strong and powerful. If he thought a child could operate the gun, he never would have left it.”

Mendoza himself declined to speak when given the opportunity.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Seth Brackman said that prison time was warranted in the case.

“This is one of the reasons our office takes these cases so seriously because poor choices, possessing a stolen firearm and putting it in the cushion of a sofa, led to the death of a 2-year-old,” he said.

The judge acknowledged that it was a difficult case.

“A child is dead. Your family is asking that you not go to prison even though their hearts are broken,” Huff said to Mendoza. “Nothing will bring this child back, but your family will not give up on you, no matter what happens.”

When Huff pronounced the sentence — 32 months for the involuntary manslaughter count and six months for the endangerment count, to run consecutively — the courtroom erupted in loud crying.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, what exactly transpired the day of the shooting is still not entirely clear, but Senior Assistant District Attorney Seth Brackman told the court during the plea hearing in April that the factual basis for the plea was the following: Mendoza was sleeping on a couch at his grandmother’s house that morning with a stolen gun that was “locked and loaded” tucked into the couch cushions. Mendoza woke to the sound of a gunshot and saw that his 2-year-old cousin was covered in blood. Mendoza’s mother was also asleep in the house after working an overnight shift. Mendoza went to the mother’s bedroom and told her the child had been shot. She then called 911 saying “my baby has been shot.”

The grandmother had previously told Mendoza that guns were forbidden in her home, Brackman said.

When police arrived, Mendoza and a 4-year-old child who was in the home were on the porch, and Mendoza pointed police to a gun on a stump in the yard, Brackman said.

Police responded to the shooting around 10:45 a.m. When officers arrived they found a critically injured 2-year-old, according to Lt. David Ernst of the Lawrence Police Department.

The child was taken to LMH Health but was pronounced dead by 2 p.m. that day, Ernst said.

Early in the investigation, police said the shooting appeared to be an accident.

Mendoza was arrested on Sept. 24, 2021, and was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated endangering a child and one count of theft of a firearm. One count of child endangerment and the gun charge were dropped as part of the plea deal.

Mendoza bonded out of jail on Sept. 25, 2021, after posting a $25,000 bond, according to court records. He was taken into custody following the sentencing hearing Monday.

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to clarify Bishop Mendoza’s relationship to Patricia Tolbert. She is his mother.