Murder suspect convicted of lesser charge

   The following story contains racist epithets and vulgarities and may not be suitable for some readers. Discretion is advised.

   Second-degree murder suspect Tommy L. Harrison wept as he told a jury Thursday about his deadly fight with Richard L. “Skip” Marshall, then smiled in relief when the panel returned a conviction on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
   The verdict, which came after almost four hours of deliberation, followed more than two days of testimony in which the defense claimed Harrison fought back after Marshall attacked him with a baseball bat and the prosecution said Harrison’s actions went beyond self-defense.
   Had he been convicted of second-degree murder, the 37-year-old Harrison could have been sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
   He could get anything from a fine to up to seven years behind bars for involuntary manslaughter.
   “God is good,” Harrison said shortly before being led from the courtroom. “I’m all right.”
   Marshall’s mother, Dot Wade, and his half-brother, Terry Risher, said they were disappointed.
   Harrison’s sentence “won’t be what he deserves,” Wade said.
   “The jury done the best they could,” Risher said. “They did what they thought was right and that’s what makes this country so damn great.”
   Marshall’s common law wife, Leette “Bo” Smith, said she “expected at least voluntary manslaughter and up to 15 years” in prison.
   “He’ll be out in no time,” Smith said.
   Jury foreman Trish McAmis said the seven-man, five-woman panel found common ground between second-degree murder and self-defense.
   “We just didn’t think there was enough evidence that he did it” but “we didn’t think it was self-defense,” McAmis said.
   Pike County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Fisher said the verdict “reaffirmed” his contention that Harrison did not act in self-defense.
   Involuntary manslaughter is “what the system provides for,” Fisher said. “We’re fine with that.”
   Defense attorneys Todd Schulze and Jonathan Hoover declined to comment.

Racial overtones
   The case had racial overtones because Harrison is black and the 42-year-old Marshall was white.
   The fight took place on Sept. 15, 2008, in an alley behind 415 Virginia in Louisiana. Harrison was visiting the nearby home of his girlfriend, Tracy Davis, to rebuild a floor in a bedroom.
   Davis is the daughter of Smith and the stepdaughter of the victim. On the witness stand Thursday, Harrison said Marshall hated him because “I’m an African-American and I was dating Tracy.”
   Several witnesses said Marshall was a drunken, profane and racist man who had boasted to a witness two days before the fight that he was going to “kill that f------ nigger.”
   Harrison claimed that as he went up the alley looking for a man who had helped with the floor project, Marshall lunged from behind bushes with what Harrison thought was a gun.
   When he recognized that Marshall was carrying a bat, he started to move away. He testified Marshall said “’You f------ nigger, don’t you f------ run away from me.’”
   Harrison said Marshall hit him on the right hand with the bat. He said the resulting fight was self-defense and that Marshall had passed out but was still breathing when it ended.
   Harrison admitted he made a “bad choice” when deciding to run from the scene as other people arrived to help and then leave Louisiana, but did so because he feared retribution from Marshall’s friends and wasn’t sure he’d get a fair shake from local police. He turned himself in a week later.
   “I didn’t intentionally try to kill Skip,” Harrison said on the stand. “I played a part in a fight. He played a big part in this fight.”

Two sides of story
   Fisher argued that the extent of Marshall’s wounds proved that the fight went beyond self-defense.
   The blunt force trauma that killed the victim almost certainly could not have resulted from fists or kicks, one witness previously testified. Marshall had extensive facial and head injuries.
   “Where were the injuries to Tommy Marshall?” Fisher asked during his closing.
   Fisher said Harrison’s explanation on why he ran was unjustified.
   “I suggest to you he ran because he knew he had done something wrong,” Fisher told the jury.
   One witness testified earlier that he saw Harrison holding the aluminum bat. Marshall’s blood was found on it.  Both were clear indications that Harrison had used the piece of sports equipment with the intention of doing harm to an unconscious man, Fisher said. He later swung the bat for effect.
   “You have the right to defend yourself,” he told the jury. “You do not have the right to use deadly force against someone who does not have the ability to use deadly force against you.”
   Schulze argued that for Harrison, repeatedly hearing the word “nigger” and seeing Marshall come at him with the bat prompted a natural reaction to defend himself.
   Schulze said Marshall kept coming at Harrison, even after Harrison tried to get away and talk Marshall out of causing him harm.
   “He gets to ‘beat that nigger,’” Schulze said. “That’s what he wanted. Tommy did the only thing he could do.”
   Harrison stayed at the scene to help revive what he thought was an unconscious man, and believed Marshall was still alive when he left, Schulze argued. He said the state had no “credible witness” who saw Harrison hit Marshall with the bat.
   “The state can’t put that bat in Tommy’s hands,” Schulze said.

Alternate jurors
   Much of the intrigue surrounding the case was reflected in the comments of two alternate jurors.
   They were released from duty just before the rest of the panel was sequestered to discuss a verdict.
   Outside the courtroom, alternate Donna Dowling called the fight a “tragic, horrible accident.” She was wavering on whether to choose murder or manslaughter.
   The other alternate, who asked not to be identified, said the racial aspects of the crime would have played a big part in his decision to acquit on grounds of self-defense.
   Just because Marshall “was born white (he) shouldn’t have any more rights than” Harrison, the man said.
   Harrison was taken back to the Pike County Jail in Bowling Green, where he will be kept until sentencing at 1:30 p.m. April 19 at the Lincoln County Justice Center in Troy.
   “There are a thousand questions I wish could be answered,” Dowling said.