Officer gets 20 years for killing her wife

Former MPD cop convicted of murder

Keara Crowder didn’t live to see her 30th birthday, a time her sister and their whole family planned to celebrate.

“We had plans together that were stolen from us,” her sister Keyana Crowder-Jones told a Shelby County courtroom Friday. “She didn’t get to see her son graduate eighth grade and she will never see him reach another milestone.”

The 29-year-old victim was shot to death Nov. 19, 2014 by her wife, who was a Memphis police officer, at their Hickory Hill-area home.

Her sister spoke Friday before Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft sentenced 36-year-old Jaselyn Grant to 20 years in prison for killing Crowder with her police service weapon.

The victim’s son, who was 12 at the time of the killing, said Grant had a history of violent behavior. She also used a police-department-issued palmtop computer to look up her wife’s girlfriend’s information, including her license plate, said prosecutors Glenda Adams and Marianne Bell.

Grant and Crowder married in June 2014 in Illinois, and they were in the midst of a break-up around the time of her death.

In a conflict before the shooting, Crowder’s son said Grant got out her service revolver and a pistol.

He said Crowder hit Grant in the head with the pistol, and Grant pointed her gun at him. Crowder told the boy to run. He said he heard shots and his mother cry out.

Grant, who later resigned from the police department, argued she shot her wife in self defense during a fight.

Grant was convicted in February of second-degree murder. The jury also found her guilty of endangering the son and aggravated assault.

In a letter to the court, the victim’s son said his life, including his mother, school, friends and home, was stolen from him.

“I never got to ask the question, ‘How could you be so selfish and take my mom away from me?’” he said.

Family and friends of Grant also submitted letters to the court describing her as humble, caring, a good teammate and provider.

“She has a very big heart,” her brother, Barrington Grant, said. “Growing up with Jas, she always put someone else before her. During the time she played basketball, she always would pass the ball to allow her teammates to score before her.”

Crowder-Jones, the victim’s sister, told the court she feels the emptiness of the loss of her sister every day. She described how she watched her sister’s son play football and look into the stands hoping his mother would be there somehow.

“I watch him fight to get through the toughest years of his life without his mother and it is unfair,” she said.

Reach reporter Katie Fretland at katherine.fretland@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter: @katiefretland.