Jury: Life for Pasco cop-killer

DADE CITY -- A jury took just 10 minutes to recommend a life sentence for cop-killer Alfredie Steele Jr. on Friday, a day after they found him guilty of fist-degree murder in the sniper-style slaying of Pasco sheriff's Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison in 2003.

The quick verdict came in at 4:21 p.m.

Then Senior Circuit Judge Robert Beach affirmed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Steele, 23, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"Nobody won in this case," the judge said. "Everyone in this courtroom wishes we could turn back the clock , but it can't be done. So what's a fair sentence in this case? What is fair for the defendant? There is no fair sentence.

"It will not return things to what they were."

The jury of 10 women and two men left without comment.

Before the sentencing was carried out, Harrison's family addressed the court and the man convicted of shooting the beloved sheriff's deputy in the back on June 1, 2003, as Harrison sat in his patrol cruiser just two weeks before he was set to retire after 31 years on the force.

Instead of a retirement party, they held a funeral.

"My daddy put his gun in his holster every day and never took it out until he got home every day," said the victim's daughter, Sandy Harrison. "He trusted the people in this community to the point where he felt a (bullet-proof) vest wasn't necessary because he was a mentor, he was a peer to his friends, he had the utmost respect of over 5,000 people who (were at his funeral) on the day we should have had his retirement party.

"I agree with allowing Alfredie Steele Jr. to live so he can have the rest of his life to think about what he has done to myself and my entire family."

Steele's lawyers rejoiced that he had been spared the death penalty. Everyone seem satisfied with the outcome except for those who should have wanted a life sentence the most: Steele and his family.

Steele was defiant throughout his sentencing hearing, telling the judge Friday morning that "the fact (is) there is no evidence against me in this case." This despite a week spent watching the very audio and videotaped confessions he made just days after the shooting, in which he confessed and apologized.

Then, after he was fingerprinted and led out of the courtroom, Steele had this to say to the crowded courtroom:

"First time y'all seen somebody convicted without any evidence."

A friend shouted: "Yo dawg."

-- JAMAL THALJI