
Man who killed roommate convicted on lesser charge
Apr. 26—COLFAX — George Melvin Harris III was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting his Pullman roommate on College Hill in September 2021.
The verdict was delivered Friday afternoon following a weeklong trial that began Monday at Colfax's Whitman County Superior Court.
A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for around nine hours before returning with a guilty verdict. The Whitman County residents had the option of convicting Harris of first-degree manslaughter, but settled on a lesser charge.
The judgment was emotionally received by Harris' family, who were shocked by the conviction. Harris approached the victim's parents with his sympathies and told them, "God bless you all."
Harris shot and killed 23-year-old Liban Barre, and allegedly injured former Washington State University football player Brandon Gray, during a party on NE Lybecker Road in Pullman. Harris claims he fired his Glock 19 in self defense after being attacked by several men, one possessing a toy gun mistaken for a real one at night.
The case launched a yearslong Pullman Police Department investigation that was completed in June. Gray's refusal to cooperate with law enforcement was cited as delaying the charging of Harris until last summer.
Witness testimonies from Wednesday recounted the phrase "you're going to die now" bellowed from a group of men in the street shortly before a series of gunshots. The moments following were filled with chaos, as hundreds began to scatter from the party.
Neuropsychologist Thomas Farrer testified in court Thursday that Harris suffered from a "traumatic brain injury" caused by a blow to the head. His determination was made from reviewing a Pullman Regional Hospital emergency room visit report days after the incident.
Whitman County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Dan LeBeau said while Harris had a right to defend himself, his use of the firearm was reckless.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Police looking for suspect in attempted Luzerne County robbery, chase
WYOMING, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — 28/22 News has updates on an attempted robbery that led to a chase in Luzerne County. It happened Monday night, and police say one of the weapons used in the incident was nearly identical to that of a real firearm. Wyoming Area Regional Police are actively searching for the driver of the vehicle they say was used in the chase Monday night. Police say she and four boys approached another boy at Morris Park in West Pittston on Monday. One of the weapons used very closely resembled that of a real firearm. A Glock 19 styled BB gun, almost identical to that of the firearm Wyoming Area Regional Police Chief Turner carries, police say, was held to a boy's head and stomach in Morris Park in West Pittston Monday night. 'Very similar. Exactly, to be honest with you. Stamped with the serial number, imprinted with the Glock 19 on the slide. The only difference was the air cartridge in the magazine holder instead of a magazine,' Chief Turner explained. According to police, two of the five people who approached the young boy had guns. The one that was seized by police was in the hands of a teenager. One of them allegedly searched the victims' pockets and asked the value of the victims' belongings. PSP investigating deadly Bradford County shooting Police say that's when the boy took off on a bike and the chase began. A young female was allegedly driving the SUV. 'I'm glad that the officer located the handgun before it went down the wrong road,' Chief Turner added. Investigators also say at the park, a third man pulled out a knife. After the suspects were captured by police, all five were taken into custody. Police charged 19-year-old John Williams of Wyoming with aggravated assault, attempted robbery, and other related offenses. 'The playgrounds are there for the children to play. If you bring this nonsense and this, it's not going to be tolerated,' Chief Turner continued. Police say the other three boys involved are juveniles. Chief Turner says they will be petitioned, and he anticipates making more arrests. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Many crime victims unaware of financial assistance available to them
A police car behind crime scene tape. While federal and state aid is available for crime victims, many say that they struggle to access it. (Getty Images) Aieda Harris knows the pain of gun violence. Her son Edward Reeves, an entertainer, a rapper whose stage name was 'Bambino Gold' based out of Atlanta, was shot and killed with a companion in 2017. His body was found in Macon County. Three years later, her son Christopher Noel Brown, was shot in June 2020. He died three months later. 'They said he didn't die of the gunshot wound, he had other health issues, issues with his heart and his kidney,' she said. 'But I am sure having two bullet holes in him didn't help at all.' She attempted to claim compensation for Edward's death under a state program allowing crime victims and their families to apply for help. But the process, she said, was difficult. 'The ABI (Alabama State Bureau of Investigation) agent, he put on the paperwork that my son was in the process of committing a crime when he died,' Harris said. 'He didn't have any proof of that at all. And so, since he put that on the paperwork, they denied my son's case. And they also said that we did not cooperate with them, which is crazy, I did everything that they asked us to do.' A spokesperson for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, responsible for overseeing the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation, said its purpose is to be an independent fact-finding agency. 'When an individual is involved with a claim that is associated with the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission (ACVCC), law enforcement officers are required to provide information concerning the case and list that information on the ACVCC application,' the agency said in its statement. 'Certain eligibility requirements must be met as determined by the Commission such as the claimant or victim must fully cooperate with law enforcement and the victim must not have contributed to the offense.' Harris was one of more than two dozen people that included activists and caregivers, along with other victims of violent crime who attended the 'Right to Heal: Access to Victim Compensation' hosted by the Alliance for Safety and Justice, a criminal justice reform organization based in Oakland, California, the first week of April. The event was organized by Aswad Thomas, vice president of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, the flagship project of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, who is a victim of gun violence himself. Thomas was shot by two attempted robbers while leaving a convenience store in Hartford, Connecticut in 2009. 'I think they fired eight or nine times, and I was shot twice in my back close to my spinal cord,' Thomas said. The physician told Thomas that the bullets were so close to his spinal cord that it wasn't clear whether he would walk again. 'That was when it hit me that I was a victim of gun violence,' Thomas said. 'My first, immediate thought, was 'Will I ever play basketball again?' My second thought — would I ever walk again?' Thomas did manage to walk again, but the injuries ended any hope of a professional basketball career. 'Like so many victims across the country, I never received any support or services after that incident, and law enforcement, who came to visit me several times during my recovery process to see how I was doing, never mentioned anything about victim services or where I could go to get help,' he said. Both Thomas and Harris are but two examples of people who were not able to receive assistance pertaining to instances of violent crime. Several who attended the April event praised victim assistance organizations for offering aid. But organizers of the event highlighted how many victims do not receive any support as they endured their painful experiences. Some, like Thomas, were unaware that support was available. But for others, such as Harris, highlight how the rules create barriers for people seeking assistance. Victims of violent crimes are entitled to compensation from money offered by the Office for Victims of Crime, a department within the U.S. Department of Justice. That agency manages the Crime Victims Fund that was established by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, which is funded from fines and penalties from convictions in federal cases and not tax dollars, according to the agency's website. That money is then allocated to states, as well as federal and tribal victim assistance programs, in the form of grants. Typically, that money is distributed to victims through the state's crime victim's compensation program which can help defray costs such as medical care, counseling and lost wages, as well as funeral expenses for those who died because of an incident involving violent crime. States can operate their own programs to assist crime victims and outline how to fund such assistance they make available to crime victims. In Alabama, the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission reviews applications submitted by victims and their families seeking financial assistance for funeral expenses, medical bills, as well as counseling services and wage compensation. But the commission, funded for decades by fines and fees from those convicted of crimes, struggled for years to collect the revenues it needed for crime victims. 'People who are assessed fines and fees generally don't pay them,' said Leah Nelson, formerly the research director at Alabama Appleseed who studies fines and fees in Alabama. 'So there isn't a lot of money to go around.' The Alabama Legislature in 2023 made a direct appropriation to the commission for the first time in history. It also received a second tranche of money totaling $1 million from the Governor's supplemental appropriation to help with paying claims to victims. Organizers of the Right to Heal event said few victims realize they have access to support. If they do reach out, it is difficult for them to obtain compensation because of the layers of rules and regulations pertaining to eligibility and the process. According to a report published in 2022 by the Alliance for Safety and Justice, only 4% of victims stemming from violent crime received any compensation to help with recovering from the incident. Of those who did not receive any aid, almost half would have wanted some type of assistance. Only 8% of victims of violent crimes surveyed as part of the report indicated that the criminal justice system provided sufficient support related to the violent crime incident. About 29% reported they were unaware that support was available. Another 28% stated that the criminal justice system was 'very unhelpful' while another 15% reported the system was 'somewhat unhelpful.' The report also indicates the criminal justice system offered little financial support because 87% of victims surveyed did not receive any financial assistance or economic support, while another 74% did not obtain any counseling or mental health assistance related to the violent crime incident. Much of the support that victims receive comes from sources that are not part of the criminal justice system. More than half, 52%, received help from family or friends. Another 28% got assistance from medical providers while 16% received assistance from a community-based program. Without adequate funding and having to navigate multiple obstacles, victims and their loved ones have little hope of receiving the resources they need to cope with the trauma of what they experienced. 'It would have been great to be educated about the psychological effects that I would be experiencing, and how to deal and cope with the PTSD, how to deal with the panic and anxiety attacks,' Thomas said. 'Learn to deal with the anger and the deep stage of depression I was in.' Thomas also wanted pain management education. He said he was discharged from the hospital with a set of pain medications but received little training on how they worked. He would have sought financial support to be placed in a different neighborhood instead of returning to the area where he was shot, staying in the living room in his mother's house. It would have been great to be educated about the psychological effects that I would be experiencing, and how to deal and cope with the PTSD, how to deal with the panic and anxiety attacks. Learn to deal with the anger and the deep stage of depression I was in. – Aswad Thomas, vice president, Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice Thomas would have also wanted the counselor or therapist to visit him at his mother's house. 'My car was impounded at the time of the shooting,' Thomas said. 'If a counselor or therapist was able to actually come to my home to provide those services, that would have helped.' Thomas and the Alliance for Safety and Justice, recognizing that victims are not receiving the support they need, established a model to allow more victims to receive compensation. The authors of the report suggested states remove the restrictions for victims who do not report the crime to law enforcement. 'But less than half — only 40% — of violent crimes are reported to the police at all. The victim may be too traumatized to go through the reporting process, may fear being revictimized, or may have reasons to distrust the justice system,' the report states. They also suggest expanding the eligibility for receiving aid to those on probation and parole, or those with a criminal record, as well as ending the eligibility exclusions to receive funding, as in the case of Harris and her son. 'When a violent crime occurs, the nature of the activities the victim may or may not have been involved in at the time of the incident should not bear on compensation decisions,' the report states. The Texas Legislature passed legislation in 2021 that allows a crime victim to claim compensation even if they are not ready to cooperate with law enforcement. Another bill that passed in Ohio, also in 2021, removed some eligibility restrictions for victims. Other states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, California and Michigan, have extended the deadline for people to submit a claim with their respective crime victim's compensation commissions. In California, the law more than doubled the limit from three years to seven years, according to the report. The Alabama Crime Victims Compensation has worked to make changes, such as shortening the application and making it available for victims and their families to complete online. They also continue to solicit funding to pay for operating expenses. However, commissioners are seeking more changes. In keeping with the actions of the other states, the commission seeks to extend the filing deadline for Alabama. 'How I was able to fill out the forms and get that done within the first year I just don't know,' said Darlene Hutchinson, one of the commissioners of the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission who was a victim of violent crime herself. She said that the commission encountered many cases in which the application was filed after the one-year deadline for victims to file for claims, and that they are urging lawmakers to change that requirement. 'I think that is going to be huge for victims,' she said. 'A couple of my close victim-advocate friends who have been doing this work for 20-plus years, when I sent them a text message and told them that we are going to pursue this, they were just so excited.' HB 355, sponsored by Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster, would have increased the deadline for ACVCC claims from one to two years after the original crime. 'I think this is one that all members, regardless of what side of the political aisle you are on, we can all agree this is something that we want to do to support the victims in our state,' Bedsole said. The bill passed the House but did not come to a vote in the Senate before the end of the 2025 legislative session. 'We were disappointed this bill did not get on the Senate calendar/agenda the final days of the session,' Hutchinson said after the session ended. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

2 days ago
Wander Franco's attorney to ask court to exonerate his client in sexual abuse case
PUERTO LA PLATA, Dominican Republic -- The attorney for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco said Monday he will ask the court to exonerate his client of all charges in a sexual abuse case involving a girl who was 14 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. Franco, who was charged in July 2024 and is on supervised release, could face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty. 'He didn't commit the acts he's accused of,' Teodosio Jáquez told The Associated Press at the end of the fourth hearing at the Collegiate Court of Puerto Plata, a tourist city in northern Dominican Republic where the girl is from. 'They're playing their part, because their job is to accuse. However, what they have to do is prove it,' Jáquez said of the witnesses presented by prosecutors. The prosecutors say the witnesses' testimony has been vital in proving that Franco sexually abused a minor and paid her mother money for her consent. 'Today, each of these expert witnesses' statements was vital. They established not only the fact of child sexual abuse, but also that they reinforced commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering,' prosecutor Claudio Cordero said. Documents that prosecutors presented to the judge last year and were viewed by The Associated Press alleged that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos ($17,000) to the mother of the minor on Jan. 5, 2023, to consent to the purported abuse. The mother of the minor has been charged with money laundering and is under house arrest. Franco also has been charged with sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking. Also, on Sunday he was charged with illegal possession of a handgun, prosecutors said. Franco was arrested Nov. 10 in San Juan de la Maguana after an altercation in a parking lot. No one was injured during the fight, and the handgun, a semiautomatic Glock 19, was found in Franco's vehicle, according to a statement from the Dominican Public Prosecutor's Office. Franco's attorney says the player did not have the weapon, that it belongs to someone else. 'This is a celebrity, and some media outlets are perverse in trying to harm that young man,' Jáquez added. Franco, who turned 24 on March 1, was in his third major league season when his career was halted in August 2023. He agreed to an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021. He is currently on Major League Baseball's restricted list after initially being placed on administrative leave.