© 2025 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Kansas City Man Who Told Murder Victim’s Family ‘It Was Worth It’ Gets Two Life Terms

Peggy Lowe
/
KCUR 89.3

A Kansas City man who gunned down a romantic rival was sentenced to two life sentences Thursday, despite a prosecutor’s plea for a 100-year term that could act as a deterrent to more “senseless killing.”

Dairian Stanley, 22, showed no emotion as Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Charles McKenzie handed down his sentence. Stanley was convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action but was acquitted of kidnapping.

Stanley killed Torrence “Trimmer” Evans on a Sunday morning in September 2016, the day before Evans’ 26th birthday. Stanley was angry that his girlfriend had been with Evans and told her, “If I can’t have you, can’t nobody have you.”

The first-degree murder conviction requires a mandatory sentence of life without parole. But Prosecutor Christopher Acurso asked McKenzie to give Stanley a second, 100-year sentence on the armed criminal action conviction.

Acurso noted that minutes after Stanley was convicted on January 17, as he was being lead back to jail by a deputy, he passed a dozen members of the Evans family, looked them in the eye and said, “It was worth it.”

Credit Jackson County Detention Center
Dairian Stanley as he appeared in a Jackson County Detention Center photograph in 2016.

Noting Kansas City’s “notoriety" for a high crime rate, Acurso said a 100-year sentence would help prevent other such murders.

“One zero zero years,” Acurso said, enumerating 100 out loud, “and here’s why: because the state wants to deter anyone else thinking of another senseless killing in Jackson County is worth it.”

Public defender Paige Bremner said the request was “ridiculous.” Such a sentence would not deter someone who is angry and ready to be violent, she said.

“That’s not somebody who’s going to be deterred because ‘Oh, I heard about this dude who got 100 years,’” Bremner said. “He’s already looking at life without parole!”

Instead of 100 years, McKenzie imposed a second life sentence, which is legally considered roughly 30 years. He also thanked the Evans family for their “calm and courage” during a difficult two-week trial.

Stanley’s case was the subject of a story in KCUR’s six-part series “The Argument,” an in-depth look at the more than 200 homicides in the Kansas City area in 2016.

Peggy Lowe is an investigative reporter at KCUR. She's on Twitter at @peggyllowe.

As KCUR’s public safety and justice reporter, I put the people affected by the criminal justice system front and center, so you can learn about different perspectives through empathetic, contextual and informative reporting. My investigative work shines a light on often secretive processes, countering official narratives and exposing injustices. Email me at lowep@kcur.org.
KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.