Fifty-three weeks after a Cole County jury found him not guilty of second-degree murder, Paris Mark Alexander-Henderson, 27, of Jefferson City, pleaded guilty Monday in federal district court to illegally possessing the firearm used in the fatal shooting.
Alexander-Henderson told U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough that he was a felon who had been in possession of a firearm, which violates federal laws.
The jury deliberated about 90 minutes May 7, 2016, before returning the not-guilty verdicts to the murder, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action charges prosecutors had lodged against Alexander-Henderson in the April 2015 shooting of Bryant O. Sturkey, 33, in what Jefferson City police said was a dispute concerning other family members.
Alexander-Henderson last year took the stand in his own defense, and admitted to shooting Sturkey - but only because he thought Sturkey was going to pull out a gun and shoot Alexander-Henderson's brother, Darnell Parker, who was in a vehicle with Alexander-Henderson at the time of the shooting.
Alexander-Henderson's attorney, Public Defender Justin Carver, had advised his client to tell jurors he never had met Sturkey until that night - and only knew of him because Sturkey had cut Parker's hair in the past.
Alexander-Henderson also testified last year that he went to pick up his brother, because Parker had called saying Sturkey was going to harm him - because Sturkey had said Parker had "put his hands on (Sturkey's) woman."
Jefferson City police officers responded to a shooting in the 1400 block of Elizabeth Street about 1 a.m. April 25, 2015. Witnesses identified Alexander-Henderson as the man who shot Sturkey.
Officers later seized a Girsan .45-caliber pistol - which he had used in the shooting - from Alexander-Henderson's residence, 1015 Elizabeth St.
Tom Larson, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, noted in a news release that, under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition.
At the time of the Sturkey shooting, Alexander-Henderson had a prior felony conviction for aggravated DUI.
Under the federal statutes, Alexander-Henderson is subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole.
The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress, and is part of the sentencing guidelines Bough will use as he imposes a final sentence at a hearing that will be scheduled later, after the U.S. Probation Office finishes its pre-sentence investigation.
The federal case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn, after it was investigated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Jefferson City Police Department.