Kiara Livingston Case: Grimes Trial, Verdict, and Life Sentence

The Kiara Livingston case ended with her boyfriend, Cleveland Vernon Grimes IV, convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced in July 2019 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Livingston, a 28-year-old mother of two, was shot five times in her car outside an Aurora, Colorado apartment on April 14, 2018, after an argument with Grimes.¹

The Shooting on South Iola Street

Aurora Police were called to 940 South Iola Street in the early hours of April 14, 2018, on a report of a female in distress.² Livingston and Grimes had been arguing at the townhouse. When she tried to leave by backing her car out of the driveway, Grimes walked up to the driver’s side and fired a handgun into the vehicle five times.¹ She was rushed to a hospital, where she died.

Grimes’s sister, Latasha Grimes-Kelly, was in the car and survived. In body-worn camera footage recorded by responding officers, she said she had been talking with Livingston when “somebody opened this door and just started shooting,” and that she “played dead” before calling 911.³ She was treated for minor injuries at the scene.²

The Evidence Against Grimes

Grimes fled after the shooting and was arrested about a week later.⁴ Investigators recovered five 9mm Makarov shell casings at the scene, two additional rounds in the parking lot, and an empty magazine from a semi-automatic handgun near the driver’s seat. His fingerprints were on Livingston’s vehicle, and cell phone records confirmed the two had been in contact.³

Grimes had prior Colorado arrests for felony menacing and driving under the influence.⁵ Court records also showed he had been named in two assault cases involving his sister in the five months before Livingston’s death.³

The Trial and Verdict

Grimes pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and a weapons possession charge, along with two sentence enhancers, and was held without bond at the Arapahoe County Detention Center.⁶ The trial ran about a week in Arapahoe County District Court and ended on June 25, 2019.

Prosecutors played the body-camera footage of Grimes-Kelly’s account and walked jurors through the ballistic evidence, fingerprints, and phone records. They described Grimes as “jealous and possessive” and argued he had been motivated by anger at being “disrespected in front of his friends by a woman.”¹ The jury returned a guilty verdict on first-degree murder in under four hours.³

Life Without Parole

In mid-July 2019, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Darren Vahle imposed the mandatory Colorado sentence for first-degree murder: life in prison without the possibility of parole.⁴

Speaking directly to Grimes, Judge Vahle said, “You stole from her family their mother and sister. You robbed this woman of her future. It’s child abuse — her little kids will now suffer.”⁴ Senior Deputy District Attorney Laura Wilson, who prosecuted the case, called it “a senseless killing of a wonderful human being.”¹

18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler called the killing “another selfish, hateful, evil act of domestic violence” and said Livingston’s two daughters, then 9 and 2, had been left “to go through life without the love, guidance, and protection of their mother.”¹

Who Kiara Livingston Was

Kiara Shanae Livingston was born on June 29, 1989, and was 28 when she was killed. She was the mother of two young daughters, and friends described her as “full of energy and ambition.” Her funeral was held at New Hope Baptist Church in Denver, and she was buried at St. Simeon Cemetery in Aurora.⁷

1
The Denver Post. Aurora Man Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Murder of Girlfriend
2
City of Aurora. Homicide Investigation at 940 South Iola Street
3
Aurora Sentinel. Jury Convicts Aurora Man of Murdering 28-Year-Old Woman in Her Car
4
CBS News Colorado. Cleveland Grimes Sentenced for Murder of Kiara Livingston
5
Aurora Sentinel. Man Charged in Woman’s April 14 West Aurora Slaying
6
Aurora Sentinel. Aurora Man Pleads Not Guilty to Shooting, Killing Woman in April; Trial Set for March
7
Colorado Funeral Service. Obituary for Kiara Livingston