Judge sentences man to life in prison for killing St. Louis police officer

ST. LOUIS — A man convicted of killing a St. Louis police officer in 2020 was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Judge Elizabeth Hogan ordered Thomas Kinworthy Jr., 46, to serve two consecutive life sentences for first-degree murder and first-degree assault, plus decades for burglary and other charges.

This month, a jury convicted Kinworthy for the August 2020 violence related to the death of Officer Tamarris Bohannon, 29, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Conviction of first degree murder carries mandatory life imprisonment.

Bohannon had been with the police for 3 1/2 years. He was married with three young children. He responded to a call after a gunman ordered a family out of their home and barricaded himself inside, police said. Bohannon was shot in the head and a second officer was shot in the leg as officers searched for another person who was reportedly shot, police said.

Bohannon's relatives, including his parents, sister, wife and children, read statements about the impact of his death on them.

“He should always be here,” Elizabeth Bohannon said of her son. “He should be here to experience everything that life had to offer him.”

Tiffany Bautista said she learned her brother had been shot in the head shortly after giving birth to her first child. She said she and her husband had to beg a hospital director to let her leave her 12-hour-old son to go see her brother.

Kinworthy contested the case and said nothing could change the events surrounding Bohannon's death or his conviction. He sometimes angrily interrupted the prosecutor when she read his criminal history during sentencing recommendations.

Kinworthy's lawyer said he was suffering from a psychotic episode on the day of the shooting. He said both men were looking forward to an appeal and hoping for a new trial.