Jury Finds Steele Guilty Of Murder

Charles Harrison Jr., son of slain Pasco Sheriff Capt. Charles "Bo" Harrison, hugs sister Sandy Harrison after the verdict is read Thursday evening. "He worked 31 years for justice," Charles Jr. said of his father. "Justice is for him, too."

SCOTT ISKOWITZ / Tribune

By TODD LESKANIC and NICOLA M. WHITE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 27, 2007

DADE CITY - If Alfredie Steele Jr. didn't mean to kill someone when he fired a rifle 13 times at a sheriff's office cruiser, the jury didn't buy it.

Ten women and two men deliberated for nearly five hours before finding Steele guilty of first-degree murder shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday in the shooting death of Pasco County sheriff's Capt. Charles "Bo" Harrison.

The verdict means jurors concluded the murder was premeditated. This morning, the same jury will consider whether Steele, 23, should be sentenced to life in prison or death.

Harrison, 57, was shot dead in his patrol car on June 1, 2003, as he was conducting surveillance on a Lacoochee nightclub. The 31-year veteran was the highest-ranking black officer in the sheriff's office and weeks from retirement.

Steele was arrested two days later after telling investigators he had fired on a patrol car.

"I just shot," Steele said on a tape played for the jury. "I didn't mean to kill that man. I didn't mean to kill Mr. Bo Bo. Sorry, Mr. Bo Bo."

The verdict ended the Harrison family's four-year wait for justice. Harrison's two daughters, Sandy and Michelle, and son Charles Jr. were consistent spectators at the nine-day trial.

"He worked 31 years for justice," Charles Harrison Jr. said, tears running down his face. "Justice is for him, too."

"People need to remember there was another generation that was going to look up to him," Sandy Harrison said. "Now we don't have that."

Harrison grew up in Dade City, where he was a sports star for the local black high school, and became one of Pasco's first black deputies. He coached youth sports for more than 15 years, mentored many black youths and was seen as a bridge between the black and white communities.

After the verdict was announced, Steele's family, including his mother, Regina Clemmons, hurried through the courthouse doors and out to their cars. Nobody spoke to reporters.

Shooter's Intent Was Disputed

The trial boiled down to one issue: intent.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on this account of what happened:

Steele drove his brother's 1988 Mercury deep into the Withlacoochee State Forest four hours before the shooting. He fired the rifle at the stone fireplace at an abandoned picnic cook shed.

Then he went to the Rumors nightclub on U.S. 301 and plied himself with Hennessy cognac and Hypnotiq. As he left the club at 2 a.m., he saw a patrol car parked across the street.

Steele pulled the Mercury behind the cruiser, staying out of sight. Hiding behind bushes, he surveyed Harrison's patrol car and squeezed off 13 shots from more than 120 feet away. Two hit the deputy in the back.

Steele's attorneys argued he didn't mean to kill anyone. He was 19, drunk and hurting from the loss of his best friend a month earlier. Michael Reed, 23, died after crashing his car during a chase with a sheriff's deputy.

"Was he doing something stupid? Yes," Assistant Public Defender Tom Hanlon said in his closing argument Thursday. "Was he doing something illegal? Yes. But it wasn't first-degree murder."

Prosecutors argued Steele planned to kill a sheriff's deputy to avenge Reed's death. Steele took it hard. He was angry and wanted revenge.

His trip to the state forest proves he planned the shooting, prosecutors said. Why else would he fire the SKS rifle in a desolate place four hours before he used the same weapon to fire at the patrol car?

More contentious was the interpretation of statements Steele made to friends and investigators in the two days after the shooting. Prosecutors argued Steele's statement to investigators that he didn't mean to kill "that man" showed he meant to kill someone.

Who he didn't mean to kill, they argued, was Bo Harrison.

"The remorse only comes when he finds out that the beloved Lt. Harrison was the victim of his evil act," Assistant State Attorney Bob Lewis said in his closing argument. "Then all of a sudden, it's tears and 'I'm sorry, Mr. Bo Bo.' Let's make a tape for the family and all of that."

Harrison was promoted to captain posthumously.

Residents Have Mixed Feelings

Scores of spectators stuck around for the verdict Thursday night. For many, feelings about Steele's fate were mixed.

In the small, rural hamlet of Lacoochee, where Steele grew up and which Harrison patrolled, family lines blurred and allegiances overlapped. Harrison was loved and respected; Steele was a kid people knew from the neighborhood.

"I'm a friend of both sides; I feel that neither side wins," said Eugenia Walker, 36, of Dade City, a neighbor of Steele's when he was growing up.

Though Steele was convicted of killing a beloved community leader, the idea he could be sentenced to death pained Walker.

"I'd rather for his mom to be visiting him in jail than visiting his grave," she said.

Even one of Harrison's nieces struggled with her feelings about her uncle's killer. As a teenager, Ebony Adams aspired to be a barber, and Steele always let her try out styles on him.

"He was my mannequin for 10 years," said Adams, 24. "It's just unbelievable to me."

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (352) 521-3156 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.