Actor who appeared on ‘Law & Order' sentenced for ‘calculated,' revenge-fueled murder of Queens man

Yahoo

23-03-2025

A 'Law & Order' actor was sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars for the 'calculated,' revenge-fueled murder of a rival in Queens — with the victim's tearful father slamming the killer as 'a monster.'
Isaiah Stokes, who appeared on hit legal drama as well as 'Boardwalk Empire,' did not show remorse for killing Tyrone Jones, who authorities said was shot nearly a dozen times inside his parked car on Feb. 7, 2021.
Jones's weeping father laced into the actor during an emotional victim impact statement at the Friday sentencing.
'I can remember the day that my son was brought into this world – a happy father I was. TJ was fun…a loving uncle and nephew. What I don't want to remember, Isaiah Stokes, is the day that you decided to murder my son,' Tyrone Jones Sr. said.
'TJ did not die from a car accident or a disease, but by the hands of a monster,' the devastated father continued through tears.
Stokes, 45 – who also records and performs music under the name I$AIAH – had a four-month-long vendetta against Jones, 37, after the younger man threw him out of his birthday party during a clash in October 2020, prosecutors said.
The actor attached a GPS tracking device to Jones' vehicle and stalked him for more than a week before the broad-daylight, caught-one-camera murder, according to the DA's office.
'You planned and thought about how and what you was going to do to end TJ's life, Isaiah Stokes. Was it that serious that you had to pump 11 bullets into TJ's body?' his father cried in court, while staring at his only son's killer.
Stokes was convicted of second degree murder in the case, along with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, but began trying to argue the merits of the case during the Friday sentencing, prompting Judge Kenneth Holder to rebuke him.
'Listen to me. You were convicted, so you need to talk to me about why I should have some mercy on you in the sentence – that's all I need to hear from you. I don't want to hear about any motions – that's all done,' Holder said during the proceeding.
'You're not a lawyer and frankly, you don't know what you're talking about,' the judge said at one point, to which Stokes responded, 'I know exactly what I'm talking about.'
Holder, fed up, took aim at Stokes' acting career.
'I do believe that you thought staying in jail as long as possible would do wonders for your movie career once you got out, but here is the problem…you're not getting out.
'Whatever movie you watched to plan this killing, you clearly watched the bootleg version, because no one could intentionally plan a murder and carry it out as stupidly as you did,' the judge continued, and added that Stokes was 'more guilty than anyone I've ever seen in this courtroom.'
Stokes' sentence is 'a direct consequence of his criminal actions,' Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Friday in a statement.
'Justice has now been served,' she added.
The 2021 murder stripped the victim's father of his 'heart,' he told The Post.
Stokes did not look at the grieving dad, which 'was a slap' in the face, Jones Sr. later said outside the courthouse.
'You know why he ain't gonna look? Because I look just like my son. My son looked like me. There's no difference. You're looking at me, you're looking at my son,' he told The Post.
Later, Jones Sr. celebrated the sentence, and praised the ADA and NYPD for their 'outstanding' work on the case.
'Now he'll never see the street again, so I'm happy. Just like my son is gone, he's gone. My son is in the ground, he's going up to a penitentiary somewhere,' he said.
However, 'it's never going to be justice because I'm never gonna get my son back,' the father said, adding that Jones should be remembered as the ''King of R&B'' and a 'loving person' who 'got along with everybody.'