Former Blue Bloods actor Isaiah Stokes is facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of a brutal murder.
Stokes, 45, was found guilty by a Queens, New York, jury of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree on March 10. Justice Kenneth Holder set Stokes’ sentencing date for March 21, when he faces 25 years to life in prison.
The actor was accused of killing Tyrone Jones as he waited for a friend to arrive at a Queens restaurant for lunch on February 7, 2021. Jones was sitting in his parked Jeep Cherokee at the time he was allegedly shot and killed by Stokes. Prosecutors believed the shooting was in retaliation for an altercation between the two men at Jones’ birthday party in October 2020, which was held at a Queens nightclub. Stokes allegedly made inappropriate behavior toward female party guests, and Jones asked him to leave the party.
“This was a calculated murder. The defendant, a part-time actor, stewed for months after being thrown out of a birthday party for his own inappropriate behavior,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced in a March 10 press release following the guilty verdicts.
Katz claimed Stokes was “intent on revenge” and put a GPS tracker on Jones’ car in late January 2021.
After renting an Audi with New Jersey license plates, Stokes tracked down his victim via GPS on the day of the murder then circled the area on foot for about 15 minutes. Stokes “ruthlessly shot the man 11 times as he sat in his car,” Katz explained in the press release. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
Following the shooting, Stokes allegedly drove the rented SUV back to his apartment in the Rego Park area of Queen later on the afternoon of the murder and returned the vehicle to a rental location in Hackensack, New Jersey, nine days later on February 16, 2021. New York Police Department detectives investigated the killing, and Stokes was arrested at his apartment on July 16, 2021
Stokes appeared in a 2012 episode of Blue Bloods as “Perp No. 2” and appeared again on the show in 2015.
According to his IMDb.com page, Stokes got his TV start with a role in two episodes of FX’s Rescue Me in 2006. He followed it up with appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Boy Wonder and Boardwalk Empire. Stokes had the role of Paul in two episodes of FX’s The Americans in 2013 and the part of Mozzy in a 2019 episode of STARZ’s Power.
Blue Bloods premiered on September 24, 2010, and became a reliable hit for CBS. The drama about a family of law enforcement members ran for 14 seasons, with the series finale of the Tom Selleck-led show airing on December 13, 2024.
Series star Donnie Wahlberg landed a Blue Bloods offshoot called Boston Blue, CBS announced on February 18. He’ll be reprising his role of Danny Reagan in the offshoot, as well as serving as an executive producer on the show.
