KANSAS CITY —A judge has sentenced a Kansas City man to Life in prison for the the Jan. 4, 2018, fatal shooting of Thomas J. Rice III, the first homicide victim of 2018 in Kansas City, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.
In November, a Jackson County jury convicted 56-year-old Aasim I. Karim of Murder 1st Degree and Armed Criminal Action charges. On Tuesday, a Jackson County judge set Karim's sentenced at Life Without Parole and 10 years for the Armed Criminal Action conviction. The sentences were set to run concurrently.
According to court records, the victim was found outside the driver's door of his vehicle on the roadway near U.S. 40 Highway and Manchester Avenue in Kansas City.
He had been shot and a spent shell was found nearby. The defendant had recently threatened to shoot the victim, according to the witness. Video surveillance of the crime scene showed the victim's vehicle followed soon after by a vehicle that looked like the vehicle known to be driven by the Karim.
A search of the defendant's residence found shell casings at the residence that came from the same firearm used at the crime scene.