Man sentenced for role in events that led to deadly west Wichita hotel shooting

A man will serve two years of probation for his role in events that resulted in a deadly double shooting at a west-side hotel more than two years ago.

Wichita police have said Keion Whyte, 23, and William Cody Pottorff, 40, were fatally shot during a fight and an exchange of gunfire tied to illegal drugs at the Scotsman Inn West, 5922 W. Kellogg. Whyte was among a group that forced its way into Room 226 of the hotel on July 30, 2020, police have said, while Pottorff was visiting a woman who had been living there.

Both men suffered several gunshot wounds, police have said. Pottorff died at the hotel. Whyte died at a hospital on Aug. 1, 2020, according to his autopsy report.

Four people were charged in the shootings. Koby Fisher, 26, of Wichita, was the last of the group to resolve his criminal case. He was sentenced Tuesday by Sedgwick County District Judge Kevin O’Connor for what his plea agreement characterized as a “minor role” in the crime. His probation carries an underlying prison term of 43 months, said Dan Dillon, a spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office — a sentence Fisher could be ordered to serve if he fails to follow the conditions of his probation.

Fisher pleaded guilty on Nov. 8 to one count of attempted aggravated battery, court records show.

“The probation is added onto 12 months of probation for a 2017 case” in which Fisher was also convicted, Dillon added in an email.

Of Fisher’s co-defendants:

Braxton J. Cooley, 26, of Wichita, pleaded no contest on Nov. 16, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and was ordered to serve two years of probation with an underlying prison term of 21 months. He is currently in the Sedgwick County Jail waiting to be transferred to prison to serve the underlying sentence after committing a number of probation violations, court records show.

Eugene C. Donnald, 46, of O’Fallon, Illinois, pleaded guilty on Feb. 24, 2021, to attempted aggravated battery and was ordered to serve two years, two months in prison. He is currently on parole in Illinois, according to online Kansas Department of Corrections records.

Akakia C. Farbes, 25, of Wichita was found not guilty of attempted aggravated battery at a July 20 bench trial.