Isaiah Stokes, an actor who had roles on Power and Boardwalk Empire, has been found guilty of lying in wait and killing a man on a New York City street in 2021, the Queens District Attorney’s Office announced.
Stokes, now 45, was indicted on a murder charge in July 2021, as previously reported.
Prosecutors said he shot Tyrone Jones, 37, multiple times as Jones sat in a parked Jeep Cherokee near the intersection of 200th Street and 118th Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.
Jones was believed to be waiting to have lunch with a friend at a nearby restaurant when he was gunned down.
Related: ‘Power’ Actor Isaiah Stokes Charged With Murder in NYC Shooting
Prosecutors said the shooting was in retaliation for a dispute between Jones and Stokes at the victim’s birthday party in October 2020.
“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 said in a press release.
According to Katz, Stokes stalked the victim before carrying out the attack.
“On or about January 29, 2021, the defendant placed a GPS tracking device underneath Jones’ vehicle and used that GPS device to track the victim down,” the DA said.
On Feb. 7, 2021, Stokes followed Jones. The actor walked around the neighborhood “for about 15 minutes” before taking out a gun, and firing 11 times into Jones’ car, according to prosecutors.
Four years later, on March 7, 2025, Stokes was found guilty of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree following a two-week jury trial.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 21, and faces 25 years to life in state prison.
In a 2024 jailhouse interview with the Daily Mail, Stokes insisted police had arrested the wrong man.
“I’m not guilty, I’m super innocent,” he said. “This is my first time ever being in jail. I never did juvenile detention centers or anything like that.”
Stokes said he was languishing in an “uncomfortable” and “dangerous” Rikers Island, as he waited for his case to go to trial. He blamed “ineffective counsel” for the delay.
The actor said he was targeted by authorities because of his fame and compared himself to Nelson Mandela.
“I’m not the first person to be in this predicament,” he said. “I think about Nelson Mandela. I think about Lil Boosie. He was charged with capital murder and he made it out of that situation. And now he’s back to being successful.”
“I feel like I’m one of the greats. I’m only going through what successful people go through,” he added.
The Queens native studied business management at Delaware State University, before breaking into acting.
He landed his first TV roles in the mid-2000s, according to his IMDb page. He had parts on Rescue Me; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Boardwalk Empire; The Americans and Blue Bloods. His most recent role was on the Starz crime drama Power as “Mozzy” in 2019.
Stokes is also a hip hop artist using the stage name I$AIAH and released several mixtapes.
Law & Order actor Isaiah Stokes claims ‘his life is in danger’ at Rikers Island after being beat up in protective custody – as he faces 25 years-to-life over daylight execution https://t.co/EfAts1pxd3 pic.twitter.com/17JGti8hIK
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 5, 2024
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