Lonterry Harrison found guilty of capital murder in 2018 shooting of teen in East Gadsden

It took jurors less than an hour to find Lonterry Orlando Harrison Jr. guilty of capital murder in the January 2018 shooting death of a Gadsden teenager.

Sentencing for Harrison is set for Dec. 14 for the death of Aaron Joe "A.J." Huff, 18.

Huff was shot and killed Jan. 4, 2018, at the intersection of Hoke Street and Litchfield Avenue. He was one of five people charged in connection with the shooting death.

Jessie James Altman Jr., who was a 17-year-old football standout for Etowah High School when the crime occurred, was found guilty last year of conspiracy to commit a robbery and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Broderick Pearson, who was 18 when the shooting occurred, and Tyler Abbott, then 17, are awaiting trial in connection with the incident.

Kaleb Whitworth, 16 at the time of the crime, was fatally shot at an Attalla residence in October 2019.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in trying Harrison.

While defense attorneys Michael Hanle and Jonathan Brown pointed to inconsistencies in witness testimony, and questioned ballistics testing in the case, prosecutors hammered on a consistency: Witness after witness testified that Harrison fired the shot that killed Huff.

Those witnesses included three friends of Huff and Pearson.

Huff's friends were victims in the case as well; Harrison also was charged with, and convicted of, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

Etowah County District Attorney Jody Willoughby said the state was thankful for the jury's service in the week-long case. "All parties were given the jury's full attention to of the facts and evidence presented," Willoughby said. "I'm thankful for the strength shown by the victims who testified, as well as that of the families involved."

He thanked the "most amazing trial team," led by Deputy District Attorney Brynn Crain, with the assistance of Chief Deputy District Attorney Marcus Reid.

Abbott told jurors during Harrison's trial that he was at his father's home in Hanceville when Whitworth contacted him about setting up Huff for a robbery. He contacted Huff through Facebook Messenger asking about buying marijuana. Jurors saw messages between Abbott and Huff, with Huff agreeing to meet at Starnes Park for the drug deal.

Abbott said he was messaging Whitworth at the same time, and Whitworth was telling him what to message to Huff.

Testimony indicated Whitworth was with Altman, Harrison and Pearson that night. Pearson told jurors he didn't know of the intentions that night, but Abbott said the plan was rob Huff of the marijuana.

According to testimony, Harrison's group was not the only one bent on deceit. Huff went to meet them with a group of six other teens; some testified he didn't have marijuana — that he put a potato in a Spiderman backpack, and intended to sell it instead.

Based on testimony, however, Huff believed he was dealing with Abbott.

Huff was a passenger in a silver van that went to meet where Abbott instructed — at Starnes Park. Abbott testified he sent messages trying to keep Huff at the rendezvous until Whitworth and the others, in a black Chevrolet Impala, arrived.

When both vehicles arrived, neither Huff nor people from the Impala would get out to approach the other vehicle. Pearson told jurors Harrison handed Altman a gun and Altman started to get out of the vehicle, but the van pulled away. Altman got back in and the Impala followed the van to the intersection of Hoke and Litchfield, pulling behind the van when it stopped at the intersection.

Witnesses Abby Lightsey, Kaylea Santana and Tyler Finley all identified Harrison as the man who jumped from the Impala, ran up beside the van, stuck his arm inside the window and fired the shot that struck Huff.

Pearson told jurors he and Harrison got out of the Impala and ran toward the van. He said Harrison fired as the van pulled away — one of the discrepancies in testimony that defense attorneys pointed out to jurors.

"Who killed A.J. Huff?" Reid asked jurors, in closing statements. In several days of testimony, he told them, there were no witnesses to say that anyone else shot Huff. According to testimony, he said, there was one man with a gun, and it was Harrison.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Lonterry Harrison Jr. guilty of capital murder in A.J. Huff death