Life sentence ordered in road-rage killing

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A man who claimed he was a Zulu ruler and that was the reason he shot another man to death during a road-rage altercation has been sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.

In imposing the sentence Friday, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence said James L. Peterson was among the dangerous few who never developed empathy.

"It's a coldness; it's a lack of acknowledgment that other people are human beings," Torrence said. "You just flat don't care."

Assistant County Prosecutor Stefan Hughes reminded Torrence that Peterson allegedly told another witness: "I popped that dude because I'm a Zulu ruler."

Peterson, 30, was convicted in November of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the June 2000 death of Floyd Edwards, 25.

His conviction on the same charges four years ago was overturned by an appeals court, which found ineffective defense by his lawyer.

Prosecutors said Peterson shot Edwards after a pickup truck in which Peterson was riding was forced to stop behind Edwards' car on a street in eastern Kansas City.

Obscenities were exchanged before the truck's driver, Kenneth Ray Vincent, pulled into the left lane to pass. The altercation ended when Peterson, saying he thought Edwards had a gun, pulled a revolver and fired six shots.

Vincent, a parolee with five prior felony convictions, identified Peterson as the killer two months later.

The prosecution on Friday sought the same sentence of life plus 30 years that Peterson received after his first conviction. Peterson continued to claim self defense. His attorney asked for a sentence of 15 to 20 years.

The victim's mother, Barbara Edwards, told Torrence her son's daughter, now 12, wants to know why her father died.

"I can't give her a reason why," she said.