photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Dawson Paine appears at his sentencing hearing on March 18, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A Topeka man was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison on Tuesday for killing a Lawrence teen while the man was playing with a gun.

Dawson Edward Paine, 22, pleaded guilty in December 2024 to one felony count of second-degree murder for shooting death of Davin Kerr, 18, of Lawrence, on March 5, 2024, in the 2900 block of Crestline Drive. Kerr was playing video games at his grandmother’s house with two friends, Paine and Hunter Gaines. Paine was playing with a gun in the same room before he pointed it at Kerr and fired, as the Journal-World reported.

photo by: Contributed

Davin Kerr

Judge Amy Hanley sentenced Paine to 131 months in prison, 10.9 years, which was more than the prosecutor and defense attorney had agreed upon as part of a plea negotiation but far less than what state law would allow. Prior to Paine’s sentencing, members of Kerrs family spoke asking the court to impose a higher sentence than Paine’s plea agreement suggested. Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald read statements from Kerr’s mother and father.

“(Davin) was a life that shone on all of us,” said Kerr’s mother Brandy Kerr in a letter read by Greenwald.

She said that she had had her own legal troubles throughout life but that she never thought she would have to ask the same court that sent her to prison to impose a more severe prison sentence for someone else.

She said Kerr was just 10 days away from celebrating his 19th birthday and because of Paine’s actions she went from planning a birthday party to planning a funeral. She said it didn’t matter if Paine was remorseful because that wouldn’t bring Kerr back. She asked the court to give Paine a prison sentence in line with what state law recommended, which was almost 40 years in prison.

“Put him in the box he deserves,” Brandy said.

Kerr’s father, Scott Brimer, said in a letter that Kerr had shown him “the joy of life” since Kerr was just a boy. He said Kerr was a fighter from the moment he was brought into the world as a premature baby until the day he died in a hospital bed bleeding from a wound given to him by Paine. Brimer asked the court to impose a greater sentence in light of other teen deaths throughout Lawrence.

“The amount of youths killing each other in this town is sickening,” Brimer said.

Kerr’s grandmother, Pam Henderson, said that it was her home where Kerr was killed and since then her family refuse to visit. She said she has been searching for a new place to live ever since. She said Kerr had stayed home playing games that night because he wanted to stay safe.

“Where are kids safe if not in their own bedroom,” Henderson said.

She asked the court to give Paine a severe prison sentence and said the prosecution had misled the family as to how the plea agreement would be carried out.

Kerr’s younger sister spoke to the court and said that she Kerr and Paine had become great friends. She said that everyone knew that Paine had a “weird” past but that she and Kerr looked past it. She said despite her affection for Paine, she did not believe him shooting Kerr was an accident. She said she knew Paine was very familiar with guns and may have had a reason to kill Kerr.

“They say it was an accident but I truly believe it wasn’t,” she said.

The mother of Gaines — the man who was in the basement with Kerr when he was shot and who called 911 and stayed with Kerr until medics arrived — read a statement on Gaines’ behalf. The letter said that Gaines has lost everything since the shooting — including his job, his girlfriend, and his mental health. Gaines wrote that Kerr was like a brother, who despite always putting on a “tough guy act” was smart, caring, and funny.

Paine spoke briefly on his own behalf and apologized to Kerr’s family. He said after he shot Kerr that he panicked and ran away.

“I made the biggest mistake of my life and Davin paid for it,” Paine said.

He said he was raised with Christian values but had turned away from them as a teen but now he has returned to faith. He said drugs had ruined his life and he will never again turn to drugs in light of his actions.

After the statements were made, Hanley asked Kerr’s attorney, Michael Clarke, and Greenwald how the terms of the plea negotiation came about. She said there was a significant difference in what state law recommended, 36 years, and what the plea agreement did, 7 years.

Greenwald said that the plea was made in light of Paine’s criminal history which was believed to be very low. A more thorough investigation was conducted after Paine pleaded to murder which showed Paine’s history was in fact very high.

Greenwald said that Paine’s convictions that led to his high criminal history score were not typical in the sense that most people with that high of a score had a long history of crimes while Paine had only four convictions, three of which were misdemeanors.

Greenwald said one of these misdemeanors was adjudicated in May of 2024 by municipal court and that his initial investigation into Paine’s history was in March 2024. Greenwald said also that Paine’s juvenile conviction, burglary of a dwelling, was not easily accessed by the DA’s office prior to the plea agreement being made.

Clarke said that he had negotiated the deal with Greenwald not based on Paine’s criminal history, but based on similar cases he had worked on in the past.

After a short recess, Hanley made her ruling to add approximately three years to the plea deal sentence that the defense and prosecution had agreed upon.

“This court believes in consistent sentencing,” Hanley said.

Hanley pointed to a pair of homicide cases she had ruled upon that had similar elements of recklessness as Paine’s case. She said both of those defendants ultimately received longer sentences than what the plea deal was seeking for Paine.

Hanley also cited a gruesome 911 call that Gaines made after Paine had been shot. That call, which was in played in court during the preliminary hearing stage of the case, was a stark reminder of Kerr’s suffering and the trauma it produces for Gaines and others.

appeared to be visibly affected by her decision with tears in her eyes. She said she was glad Kerr’s family was not made to suffer through a jury trial where the details of Kerr’s death would be scrutinized for them to see. Paine wasn’t there during that call. Paine had fled the scene and was arrested two days later, and admitted to the shooting when questioned by police.

“You took a life and I heard that 911 call. You weren’t there for the worst of it. You put us all through it,’ Hanley said.

Hanley said that she had decided that 131 months in prison was appropriate because that is the sentence he would have received if his criminal history score was what the state had originally believed. She said she departed from the 36.5-year prison sentence because Paine had taken responsibility for his actions. She said other factors listed by Clarke in his motion for a lesser sentence were also considered, which included Paine’s young age and troubled upbringing.

She told Paine that she hopes he thinks of Kerr and what he put Kerr’s family through for the next 11 years he is in prison. She said she hopes that after his sentence he is a changed man and that he does not fall back onto the same path that led him to shooting Kerr.