ST. LOUIS, MO  (November 20, 2024) — Douglas Shelton-Herron 27, was found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the fatal shooting of Lekeisha Stokes, 39, in the 8500 block of Church Street in the city’s Baden neighborhood on February 11, 2022. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He received 30 years on the second-degree murder charge, and ten years for the armed criminal action charge. These sentences will run consecutively.

Shelton-Herron and four friends had been smoking marijuana in his Jaguar parked in front a home on Church Street shortly after midnight on the night of the shooting. Stokes had dropped off a friend and was returning home from a karaoke event. She drove her Kia through an intersection, weaved, sideswiped Shelton-Herron’s car and crashed into a car parked in front of the Jaguar.

Shelton-Herron immediately jumped out of the Jaguar and fired 12 shots at the Kia with an assault weapon. Two other companions fired shots at the Kia with 9 mm handguns while running away. A witness who had been a passenger in Shelton-Herron’s car told police that Stokes yelled “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Don’t shoot!” after hitting the Jaguar. Stokes sustained multiple gunshots. The entire incident was captured on police surveillance cameras.

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant Circuit Attorney Gordon Ankney, a partner at the law firm of Thompson Coburn LLP, and Assistant Circuit Attorney Katherine Ware-Russek.

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