CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A Charlottesville man who shot a UVa contractor to death in a parking lot near the Corner sentenced to 43-years in prison, with 15 suspended. 22-year old Lakori Brooks pleaded guilty in February to 2nd-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony for the March 18, 2023 killing of 26-year old Cody Brian Smith. Investigators say Brooks and Smith knew each other well, and the shooting happened in a parking lot near Elliewood Avenue around 5:30 that morning.

The prosecution back in February said the shooting happened in a dispute between the two men involving something Smith said to Brooks’ girlfriend inside the Biltmore bar, a woman Smith had dated during a period Brooks and the girlfriend had split. He was arrested two days later after Charlottesville detectives executed multiple search warrants in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
After serving a 28-year active sentence, there’s 5 years of supervised probation.