Dylan Barber is set for sentencing next week in the murder of former Emporian Mackenzie Payne last summer. If Barber has his way, there will be no sentencing hearing.
Barber pleaded to first-degree murder in Payne’s death during a hearing in February. However, he has motioned to withdraw that plea. A motions hearing will now take place at a later time.
Barber allegedly killed Payne in late June, stabbing her several times before she died. As part of the plea agreement, charges of criminal threat and criminal in possession of a weapon were dropped.
Payne, 22, graduated from Emporia High School in 2013 and was preparing for medical school at the University of Kansas when she was murdered. Her death was Wichita’s 24th homicide of 2018 and the third domestic violence murder of the year.
