{"id":52487,"date":"2014-06-06T19:30:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-07T02:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=52487"},"modified":"2014-06-11T14:34:49","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T21:34:49","slug":"man-found-guilty-of-manslaughter-in-roommates-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/06\/06\/man-found-guilty-of-manslaughter-in-roommates-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Man found guilty of manslaughter in roommate\u2019s death"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nicholas<\/a>
Nicholas Harper, now 26, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the\u00a0Feb. 2012 shooting death of his best friend, 21-year-old James McElroy (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 A Palmdale man who shot his roommate in the face two years ago is guilty of voluntary manslaughter.<\/p>\n

An Antelope Valley jury on Friday found Nicholas Harper<\/strong> not guilty of murder, but guilty of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death of 21-year-old James McElroy<\/strong>. The jury also found true the allegation that Harper personally used a shotgun to commit the crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s not fair\u2026 I\u2019m very hurt and I feel cheated,\u201d said McElroy\u2019s mother, Clemmie Graves. \u201cAll the evidence showed that it wasn’t a mistake; it wasn’t an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Loved<\/a>
Loved ones paid tribute to James McElroy on the one-year anniversary of his death.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the night of Feb. 7, 2012, Graves received a frantic call from her son\u2019s girlfriend and rushed to the Parkwood Patio apartments in the 38000 block of 20th street east in Palmdale. She found her son struggling to breathe with a gunshot wound to the mouth.\u00a0McElroy died less than an hour later.<\/p>\n

That night, authorities detained Harper, McElroy\u2019s best friend of nearly a decade. Harper initially blamed the shooting on “two black guys”, but he later changed his story and claimed McElroy was killed when a shotgun went off as the two were cleaning it.<\/p>\n

Harper was charged with\u00a0murder<\/a> about a week after the\u00a0incident.<\/p>\n

During the two-week murder trial, which began May 21, neither side disputed that Harper pulled the trigger. The prosecution argued that the shooting was deliberate, while the defense claimed it was accidental.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor William S. Chung presented a theory that there was jealous tension between the two best friends, because McElroy had a lot going for him while Harper\u2019s life was in a downward spiral. Harper\u2019s downward spiral hit rock bottom on Feb. 7, 2012, when his girlfriend broke up with him in a series of angry text messages, partly because of McElroy, according to Chung. Minutes after the final text message, Harper shot McElroy, Chung told the jury during closing statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of all the background issues going on, the defendant killed James McElroy,\u201d Chung said.<\/p>\n

Though Harper had been drinking and smoking marijuana before the shooting, he was clear-minded enough to toss the gun and then lie to detectives, Chung added.<\/p>\n

But defense attorney Hung Du maintained that the shooting was a \u201ctragic accident.\u201d He said his client panicked and told a \u201chorrible lie\u201d but confessed soon after. During his closing statement, Du played Harper\u2019s 9-1-1 call for the jury, which was placed right after the shooting. Harper was frantic, crying and upset on the call, Du said, and that type of raw emotion was not consistent with a cold-blooded murderer.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes it make sense that you\u2019re going to murder someone and then immediately try to help them?\u201d Du asked the jury.<\/p>\n

The prosecution argued for a murder conviction, while the defense argued for involuntary manslaughter.<\/p>\n

The jury went with voluntary manslaughter after a day of deliberating.<\/p>\n

Harper is scheduled to be sentenced July 3. He faces a maximum penalty of 21 years in state prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully he will get the max that he deserves,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that [the judge] at least gives us that much justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Trial opens for Palmdale man charged with killing roommate<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

1-year anniversary vigil for James McElroy<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Man pleads not guilty in roommate shooting death<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Man charged in roommate murder, bail set at $2 million<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Family seeks justice for man shot dead by roommate<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 A Palmdale man who shot his roommate in the face two years ago is guilty of voluntary manslaughter. An Antelope Valley jury on Friday found Nicholas Harper not guilty of murder, but guilty of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death of 21-year-old James McElroy. The jury also found true the allegation that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}