A Jackson County jury took less than an hour Thursday to clear Zechariah Hoskins-Ellis in a deadly Kansas City shooting, finding that he acted in lawful self-defense. The verdict closes a case that began with a homicide investigation and ended with the jury rejecting every criminal charge.
FOX4KC reports that Hoskins-Ellis was found not guilty on all charges in the death of 25-year-old Zackery Matthews. The jury’s decision came more than a year after Matthews was shot during a confrontation in southeast Kansas City.
According to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, Kansas City police were dispatched to the area of East 73rd Street and South Benton Avenue on May 16, 2025, after a report of a shooting. Officers found Matthews on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, and he died at a hospital on May 19.
The original case included a second-degree murder charge, two counts of armed criminal action and an unlawful-use-of-a-weapon charge. The charging document filed in Jackson County alleged that Hoskins-Ellis caused Matthews’ death by shooting him, but those allegations ended with an acquittal after trial.
A probable-cause statement said Matthews had been doing construction work at a nearby house when Hoskins-Ellis arrived and the two became involved in an argument. Witness accounts described Hoskins-Ellis going to a truck, retrieving a firearm and shooting Matthews, while the defense ultimately persuaded jurors that the shooting was legally justified.
Missouri Self-Defense Law Took Center Stage
Missouri law allows a person to use deadly force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to protect themselves or someone else from death, serious physical injury or a forcible felony. The statute also says a person generally has no duty to retreat from a place where they have a right to be, making the circumstances of a confrontation critical in a self-defense trial. According to the Missouri Courts website, a defendant generally must request that the trial court submit a MAI‑CR (Missouri Approved Jury Instruction) form the defendant believes is applicable to claim self‑defense.
The verdict arrives amid a broader Kansas City debate over how Missouri’s self-defense rules affect homicide prosecutions. In March, The Kansas City Star reported that Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said her office declined to file charges in 58 self-defense cases in 2025, compared with 68 in 2022.
For the Matthews case, the criminal proceeding is now resolved with Hoskins-Ellis acquitted on every count. The verdict does not change the fact that Matthews died from the shooting, but it does establish that jurors found the state had not overcome the self-defense claim beyond a reasonable doubt.
