Frankie Williams, left, killed James Earl Harp, right (Harris County District Attorney’s Office)
A Houston woman was sentenced to 35 years in prison for shooting her high school pal and father of six after an argument over a stolen gun and dumping his body in a drainage ditch with the help of her brother and another friend.
Frankie Williams, 32, learned her fate after pleading guilty to murder this month for shooting James Earl Harp, 34, at her home on March 13, 2020, prosecutors said in a news release.
“They got into a fight over nothing that resulted in a death that didn’t have to happen,” said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Liberman, who prosecuted the case. “She knew he was a jovial guy with a family who was not a threat to anyone, and she could have just walked away instead of doing what she did.”
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said authorities are seeing more disputes ending in gunfire.
“Arguments should never be settled with a gun, and people who use their firearms with bad intentions, like in this case, will be held accountable,” she said.
Prosecutors said Harp needed a place to stay and went to Williams’ house, where her brother and another friend stayed. They all had known each other since high school, prosecutors said.
The argument led to Harp getting kicked out of the place before it escalated further, authorities said. After the shooting, Williams told her brother and friend to load Harp — still alive and pleading for his life — into the back of their pickup truck before driving him to a rural area and dumping his body.
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Williams’ brother, Shannon Williams, 33, and their friend, Desman Tolliver, 31, pleaded guilty in 2021 and were each sentenced to 12 years in prison, prosecutors said.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime revealed what witnesses and Shannon Williams told police about the killing.
One witness said she checked to see where the arguing and yelling were coming from about midnight. The witness said the argument had gone on for an hour before she heard at least three gunshots. She looked outside and saw two men standing by a sidewalk, looking toward a fence. When she went to her porch for a better look, the witness said she saw a man lying motionless on the ground. She said she recognized him from the argument earlier.
She said he lay there for up to 20 minutes before a white pickup truck pulled up, and the men picked the body up and loaded him into the bed. She said the pickup truck pulled into the apartment complex before leaving.
A second witness said the argument woke him up before he heard about seven gunshots, looked out and saw two men looking at a third man lying motionless. The witness said the two men paced for about 15 minutes before a white pickup pulled up, and the men loaded the victim in.
During questioning, Shannon Williams told police Harp, his lifelong friend, had stolen his sister’s gun, the two argued, and she shot him. He said he and Tolliver loaded him into the bed of the pickup, and the three got in and started driving to a hospital. He said his sister told him not to go there and instead directed him to an unknown location, the affidavit said. He said they eventually arrived at an unfamiliar area, where his sister and Tolliver dumped Harp into a ditch, the document said.
Prosecutors said in their news release that Frankie Williams can’t appeal the conviction or the sentence and must serve at least half the time before she’s eligible for parole. Her defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
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