TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) – The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed the sentence of a man who shot and killed a restaurant owner in south Wichita in 2021.
Adrian Nicholas Zongker was sentenced in June of 2022 for the death of 42-year-old Oscar Acosta-Chavez at his restaurant Birrieria Tito Tacos near Hydraulic and Wassall . He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for premeditated with an additional 15 months for possession of a firearm.
Zongker appealed his case, claiming that the court erred by not giving the jury instructions on involuntary manslaughter. He also argued that the prosecution had misspoken several times during jury instructions and that he received ineffective counsel because his attorney pursued a guilt-based defense against his wishes.
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The court rejected those claims and affirmed his convictions. However, they did find that the sentencing judge errored in Zongker’s sentence for criminal possession of a weapon because it was two months longer than the statute’s maximum sentence.