BARTON COUNTY —After seven years, a Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday for a fatal shooting in Great Bend.
District Court Judge Carey Hipp sentenced 55-year-old Freddie Thomas to 59 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections for the 2015 murder of Jeremy Saldana. In June, a Barton County jury convicted Thomas of Voluntary Manslaughter.
On the evening of September 11, 2015, Thomas shot Jeremy Saldana three times with a Ruger SR9.
Thomas was arrested on scene and charged with First Degree Murder on September 16, 2015. Thomas was bound over for trial following the preliminary hearing on April 21, 2016.
On June 8, 2016, now-retired District Court Judge Ron Svaty granted Thomas immunity from prosecution and dismissed the State’s complaint. The State of Kansas filed an appeal.
On December 8, 2017 the Kansas Court of Appeals issued an unpublished opinion reversing the grant of immunity. The defendant then filed a petition for review with the Kansas Supreme Court. The Defendant’s petition for review was granted.
In July 2020, the Kansas Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeals and sent the case back for a rehearing. In November 2020, District Court Judge Carey Hipp denied the defendant’s immunity request and set the matter for jury trial.