QUEENS, N.Y. – Isaiah Stokes, an actor who appeared in episodes of “Blue Bloods,” “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “Power,” has been convicted of murder in connection to a New York City shooting in 2021.
Stokes, 45, was found guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon following a two-week trial in Queens County, New York. He was convicted of murdering victim Tyrone Jones, 37, in St. Albans, New York, in February 2021 -- four months after an altercation between the two at a birthday party in October 2020.
Stokes will be sentenced March 21 and faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
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“This was a calculated murder,” Queen District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release. “The defendant, a part-time actor, stewed for months after being thrown out of a birthday party for his own inappropriate behavior. Intent on revenge, Isaiah Stokes placed a GPS on the victim’s car and tracked Tyrone Jones down to Linden Boulevard, where he ruthlessly shot the man 11 times as he sat in his car.”
Stokes and Jones met during the victim’s birthday party at a club in Queens in October 2020, according to the charges and trial testimony. The two were involved in a dispute about Stokes’ inappropriate behavior toward women at the party, and Jones requested that Stokes leave. After Stokes refused to leave, he was injured during a physical altercation with other attendees at the party, according to the release.
On or about January 29, 2021, Stokes placed a GPS tracking device underneath Jones’ vehicle and used it to track the victim’s location on February 7. Around 2:30 p.m. that day, Stokes exited a parked vehicle at an intersection and circled the nearby area for 15 minutes before approaching Jones, who was in a parked Jeep Grand Cherokee at a restaurant while waiting to meet a friend for lunch. Stokes then fired 11 gunshots at Jones, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest and was pronounced dead on the scene.
Stokes drove the vehicle back to his apartment later that day before returning it to a rental location in Hackensack, New Jersey, on February 16. He was arrested on July 16, 2021, by Detective Daniel Connors of the NYPD’s 113th Precinct and retired Detective Michael Maus, formerly of the NYPD’s Queen South Homicide Unit, according the release.
“My office is laser-focused on gun violence, and we will utilize every tool at our disposal to investigate, arrest and prosecute those who use deadly guns on our streets,” Katz said. “I thank our prosecutors and the NYPD detectives who built this case. The jury has now spoken, and the defendant faces up to 25 years to life at sentencing for his criminal actions.”
Stokes earned his first on-screen acting credit in 2006 video “Killa Season,” according to his IMDb page. He later played Tyrone Beckwith in one episode of “Law and Order: SVU” in 2008 and played Louis in one episode of Boardwalk Empire in 2011. He also appeared in two episodes of “The Americans” in 2013, two episodes of “Louie” in 2011 and 2014, one episode of “Power” in 2019, and more.
