35-year sentence handed down in case of man who killed his stepfather in Killeen

A 35-year prison sentence was handed down this week in the case of a Killeen man who murdered his stepfather last year.

Xavier Mason Stokes, 23, entered a guilty plea to murder during a hearing on Aug. 20. On Friday, Judge Wade Faulkner found Stokes guilty and sentenced him to 35 years in prison with credit for time served. Stokes was booked into the Bell County Jail on April 20, 2024, two days after the homicide of 33-year-old Tres Maurice Carter.

Stokes was indicted by a Bell County grand jury on June 26, 2024, on the first-degree felony charge.

Around 10:05 p.m. on April 18, 2024, Killeen police responded to a residence in the 900 block of Southside Drive after Stokes called 911 and said that he had shot someone.

There, Carter was found suffering from gunshot wounds to the abdomen,