Kurt Wallace, Carjackings, Missouri 2023

A St. Louis man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for his role in a series of violent crimes, including a fatal carjacking.

Kurt Wallace, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Wednesday for his involvement in three separate carjackings in 2017.

According to the government, Wallace and his co-defendant, Jherrica Dixon, set up carjacking meetings with men using a dating app. On October 16, 2017, Wallace fatally shot Jaz Granderson, a football coach at De Smet Jesuit High School, while stealing his Jeep Grand Cherokee in St. Louis.

Wallace also shot the driver of a 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the shoulder in the 300 block of Walsh Street in St. Louis on September 16, 2017, and shot the driver of a Cadillac CTS in the leg on October 15, 2017.

Wallace was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in November 2017 and detained in jail pending trial. He escaped from jail on July 15, 2019, and carjacked a vehicle before leading police on a multi-jurisdiction pursuit that ended with him crashing the vehicle.

Wallace pleaded guilty in September 2023 to four counts of carjacking, two counts of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking resulting in death, and one count of escape.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, the Troy Police Department, the Saint Ann Police Department, and the Saint Louis County Police Department.

Wallace is the seventh individual convicted in connection with a series of violent crimes. His co-defendant, Jherrica Dixon, was sentenced to 19 years in prison in December for her role in the carjackings. James Flannel, another defendant in the case, is scheduled to be sentenced in February for his role in the escape and carjacking.

Kurt Wallace, Defendant, was born in 1992 and is currently serving 60 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the following charges: four counts of carjacking, two counts of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking resulting in death, and one count of escape.

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