For Immediate Release, Sept. 12, 2023
A Jackson County judge this morning sentenced Jonathan L. Bradford to life in prison plus seven years for the fatal shooting in July 2020 of Lodillar R. Styles, who had driven the defendant to a residence when the defendant suddenly shot him in the head, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.
The judge sentenced Johnathan L. Bradford, dob: 2/8/982, to Life in Prison for his conviction of Murder 2nd Degree and an additional seven years for sentences in four other convictions: Armed Criminal Action, Tampering with a Motor Vehicle, Abandonment of a Corpse and Assault 4th Degree. Bradford also pleaded guilty to two counts of Felon in Possession and was sentenced to seven years. Those sentences were set to run concurrently with the others.
According to court records, Kansas City police were dispatched to 40th and Tracy on a shooting. They found the victim in the middle of the street. Officers determined the victim had been in a large blue pickup truck with two others, including a witness. A witness told police that the victim had picked her up and drove her to his apartment, where the suspect also arrived. The witness noticed the suspect was smoking hash and was acting weird. As they were about to leave, the victim was in the driver’s seat and the witness was in the front passenger seat. The victim pulled over to let the suspect out. The suspect attempted to get out but the doors were locked. The victim asked the suspect not to pull on the door handles; the child lock was on. The victim instructed the suspect to let the window down and to reach outside the door to open it. The suspect uttered "ok," according to the witness, then shot the victim in the head. The victim’s vehicle then struck a white van. Other witnesses heard the vehicles’ collision and saw a man pulling the bloody victim from the vehicle. When the suspect was arrested, after a brief foot chase, police recovered a pistol of the same caliber used in the homicide. The suspect told police he had been in the vehicle with the victim, when "all chaos broke out.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Hallie Schuman and Lauren Whiston prosecuted the case on behalf of the state of Missouri.
For more information, contact:
Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile: (816) 674-3954
mmansur@jacksongov.org
http://jacksoncountyprosecutor.com