photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Convicted murderer Nicholas Laron Beaver appears Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, for his sentencing in Douglas County District Court.

Updated at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17

A defendant who was convicted of murdering a man in front of the Lawrence Public Library in 2024 has been ordered to serve more than 51 years in prison.

Judge Stacey Donovan on Wednesday handed down the 620-month term requested by the state and denied the defense’s motion for a downward departure in Nicholas Laron Beaver’s sentence.

photo by: Contributed

Vincent Lee Walker

A Douglas County jury in July found Beaver, 34, guilty of first-degree murder in the March 6, 2024, shooting death of 39-year-old Vincent Lee Walker. The jury, after deliberating for just two hours, rejected Beaver’s claim that he had killed Walker in self-defense.

Beaver’s defense attorney, Razmi Tahirkheli, in an attempt to get a lower sentence, told Donovan that Walker had been the aggressor that afternoon at the bus stop on Vermont Street near the library, going so far as to say “anybody” would have reacted the way Beaver had — that is, by pulling out a gun and shooting someone three times. He also argued that his client had a mental impairment that affected his judgment, as well as PTSD from himself having been shot before.

But the state argued, and Donovan agreed, that the jury had found that Beaver had acted with premeditation and did not lack the mental capacity to judge the situation he faced on that sidewalk as Walker, unarmed, reportedly yelled at people around him. Donovan found that the defense had not presented substantial and compelling reasons to depart from the standard sentence of 620 months for someone like Beaver who has the worst possible criminal history under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines.

Before she pronounced her sentence, Donovan heard from two of Walker’s four siblings. Their mother sobbed quietly in the courtroom as they talked about what their brother’s loss in such a violent manner had meant to the family.

Walker’s little brother told Donovan how he called his big brother “VW” and always had “great memories” of him and his love for making music.

He said Walker had gone through some hardships, including homelessness and losing his marriage and kids, and had been “in a dark place,” which he sometimes used drugs to cope with as many people do, but “my brother was a good dude.”

As he spoke, Beaver interrupted him with outbursts:

“Was you there?” he demanded from the defense table.

And: “The world is a better place without Vincent Walker!” among other hurtful taunts.

Donovan did not interrupt or reprimand him for the outbursts. She said later in the hearing that she would not hold the outbursts against Beaver because “emotions were running high.”

Before Donovan entered the courtroom, Beaver, who had said he didn’t even know Walker, had come in rapping and laughing and blew a mocking kiss to the grieving family. Walker’s brother, noting this behavior as he later addressed the court, told Beaver, “You have no remorse for what you did.”

Walker’s younger sister also spoke, telling the court how it had been hard to watch a “picture” being painted of Walker by people who didn’t know him, people who saw him as a homeless man whose “life didn’t matter.”

“We know Vincent,” she said of her family.

Walker did have struggles, she said, particularly with drugs, and he was at “the lowest point of his life,” but that “doesn’t mean it’s right for someone to kill you at a bus stop in front of a bunch of little kids.”

Despite his earlier behavior, Beaver, when given his turn to speak, told Donovan that he believed he had acted in self-defense, that he wished he “could take it back,” and that he was sorry for the Walker family’s loss.

Beaver will be given credit for the 652 days he has already spent in custody, meaning that he will still face right at 50 years before he is eligible for parole. If he outlives his prison term, he will be subject to lifetime supervision on his release.

Former Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald successfully argued for Beaver’s conviction at his jury trial this past summer. DA Dakota Loomis argued the state’s case at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Convicted murderer Nicholas Laron Beaver appears Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, for his sentencing in Douglas County District Court.