A New York actor whose credits include “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Boardwalk Empire” faces the possibility of life in prison after he was convicted Monday in a shooting death that prosecutors say was thoroughly planned and premeditated.
Prosecutors say Isaiah Stokes, 45, was motivated by revenge and determined to get back at 37-year-old Tyrone Jones after the victim kicked him out of his birthday party in October 2020.
Stokes, who plays Mozzy on “Power,” had allegedly been acting inappropriately around some of the female guests. Jones asked him to leave, but Stokes refused and was forcibly ejected from the party by other guests.
“This was a calculated murder,” Queens DA Melinda Katz said in a statement.
A humiliated Stokes, who also records and performs music under the name I$AIAH, sowed the seeds for revenge soon after the party. He began tracking Jones on or about Jan. 29, 2021, when he placed a GPS device on the undercarriage of the victim’s Jeep Grand Cherokee, say prosecutors. On Feb. 7, 2021, Stokes decided to act on his vendetta, tracking Jones to the intersection of 200th Street and Linden Boulevard, where the victim was meeting a friend for lunch.
At around 2:30 p.m., Stokes exited a parked Audi SUV with New Jersey license plates on the intersection of 200th Street and 118th Avenue. For about 15 minutes, he circled the area where Jones was located before finally approaching the driver’s side of a white Jeep Cherokee. The actor pulled out his handgun and calmly fired 11 times into the vehicle.
The incident was captured on surveillance video. Stokes was convicted of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon following a two-week jury trial.
Jones, shot mainly in the head and chest area, was pronounced dead on the scene less than two miles from his home. Stokes, meanwhile, returned to his apartment. Five days later, he returned the Audi to a car rental place in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Stokes was arrested in July 2021 after police, executing a search warrant, found documents at his residence connecting him to the GPS device found under the victim’s vehicle.
“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 will be sentenced March 21.
