‘Blue Bloods’ and ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Actor Convicted for Murder: 25-Year Prison Sentence Set for Isaiah Stokes

A television performer whose career included appearances on popular crime dramas has now become entangled in a real-life homicide case. Isaiah Stokes, 45, received a 25-years-to-life prison term on Friday after a Queens jury deliberated for under two hours before finding him guilty of second-degree murder and illegal weapons possession in the 2021 killing of Tyrone Jones, according to the New York Daily News.

The fatal confrontation stemmed from a personal dispute that began months earlier when Jones, 37, ejected Stokes from a birthday celebration at a Queens nightclub after Stokes allegedly behaved inappropriately toward female attendees. Court documents revealed that this initial confrontation at Jones’ birthday gathering in 2020 sparked a calculated revenge plot that unfolded over several months, the Daily News reported.

Prosecutors presented evidence showing Stokes’ methodical approach to the killing. On Jan. 29, 2021, investigators say Stokes attached a GPS tracking device underneath Jones’ vehicle to monitor his movements. Days later, on Feb. 7, while Jones sat in a rented Jeep near Linden Boulevard and 200th Street in the St. Albans neighborhood, surveillance footage captured Stokes approaching the vehicle and firing approximately eleven shots at Jones, who sustained multiple wounds to his face and head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

“For days, for weeks, for months, you stalked my son,” the victim’s father, Tyrone Jones Sr., stated during the sentencing proceedings at Queens Criminal Court, confronting Stokes about the premeditated nature of the crime.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz emphasized the calculated nature of the killing in her statement following the conviction: “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.”

Law enforcement’s investigation revealed crucial evidence that led to Stokes’ arrest five months after the shooting. After the murder, surveillance video showed the suspect entering a rented Audi that investigators traced to a designated parking space at Stokes’ Rego Park residence. A subsequent search warrant uncovered documentation connecting Stokes to the GPS tracking device found beneath the victim’s vehicle, authorities noted.

Before his criminal conviction, Stokes had built a resume of minor television roles. His credits included single appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2009 and Boardwalk Empire in 2011. He also appeared in two episodes of The Americans in 2013 and made multiple appearances in Blue Bloods – first in 2012 as a character designated simply as “leader” and again in 2015 as “Perp #2.” His most recent television appearance was in a 2019 episode of Power.

During the sentencing hearing, Stokes offered an apology before raising concerns about a legal motion he claimed remained unaddressed, the Daily News reported.

The case represents what District Attorney Katz described as the troubling presence of gun violence in Queens communities. When Stokes was initially indicted in 2021, Katz stated in remarks: “The defendant is accused of unloading nearly eleven shots during this brazen afternoon shooting. Gun violence is all too prevalent in our neighborhoods. We will not allow it to become the norm.”

Police recovered ten shell casings from a 9mm weapon at the crime scene, where Jones had been preparing to meet a woman at a lounge when he was fatally shot. Following his death loved ones established a candlelit memorial with white roses at the location of the shooting.