ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison for the 2020 killing of his girlfriend in the city's Tower Grove East neighborhood.
Circuit Judge Timothy Boyer sentenced 25-year-old Kristopher Burns-Jackson to 12 years for second-degree murder and a consecutive three-year sentence for armed criminal action in the killing of Monay Phillips.
Burns-Jackson had originally been charged with first-degree murder in the case. He took a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty on Monday to the reduced charges, admitting he killed Phillips on Nov. 10, 2020.
According to a press release from the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, Burns-Jackson fatally shot Phillips, 23, during an argument in a car on the 3100 block of Arsenal Street.
Phillips' grieving relatives spoke in court on Thursday, describing the youngest of eight siblings as a loving and selfless woman who studied criminal justice in college and had hoped to become a police officer.
“I feel like (Burns-Jackson) took a part of me when he took her,” her sister said in court.
Burns-Jackson apologized at the sentencing, saying he hoped Phillips' relatives "find it in their hearts to forgive me."
