Sentencing is set for Friday afternoon for a Columbia man convicted of murdering a man three years ago by shooting him in the head.
A Boone County jury deliberated for three hours in August before convicting 38-year-old Isaac Bryant of second degree murder and armed criminal action for the 2022 shooting death of Demetrius Ware on Grand Avenue. Boone County Circuit Judge Brouck Jacobs has scheduled a 1:30 sentencing hearing for today.
Bryant’s attorney, James Egan, has filed a ten-page motion for a new trial, alleging several errors by the trial court. Counselor Egan’s court motion alleges that the trial court erred by allowing prosecutors to deliver a power point presentation. Egan says the power point gave the jury the impression that Bryant was near the scene of the crime at the time of the crime. The defense motion also says Bryant was convicted of murder by an all-white jury. Bryant and the victim Demetrius Ware are both African-Americans.
Judge Jacobs is expected to take the motion up today. Boone County assistant prosecutor Risa Perkins is the lead prosecutor in the case.