A St. Louis County man has been sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison for the 2022 murder of a Florissant woman. Douglas Shelton-Herron, 27, received the sentence after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 39-year-old Lekeshia Stokes. The shooting occurred on February 11, 2022, on the 8500 block of Church Road in Baden, as reported by the St. Louis City Circuit Court.
During the trial, it emerged that Stokes had just left a karaoke event and was on her way home when she sideswiped Shelton-Herron's car. After the minor accident, Shelton-Herron, and two accomplices confronted Stokes, leading to her being shot multiple times. Surveillance footage captured Shelton-Herron firing a dozen rounds from a semiautomatic rifle. Despite prosecutors pushing for a first-degree murder conviction, Shelton-Herron was found guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder.
Shelton-Herron's two associates, Corey Evans, 21, and Thomas L. Shelton, 25, had previously accepted plea deals with prosecutors and were handed down 10-year sentences each for voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action, charges which were reduced from first-degree murder. St. Louis Circuit Judge Bryan Hettenbach handed Shelton-Herron a longer sentence, imposing 30 years for the murder and a consecutive 10-year term for the accompanying armed criminal action charge.
During the sentencing hearing, Stokes' mother and sister expressed their sorrow and the impact of their loss. "It’s hard every day," said Sharniece Stokes, who has taken on the role of raising her late sister's four children, in a statement echoed by the St. Louis City Circuit Court. Shelton-Herron also spoke, offering an apology to the Stokes family. Shelton-Herron apologized saying he wished he could take it back and that he’d give his life for hers, as the family detailed their daily struggle to endure without Lekeshia.
