LYNDON — After a 30-year-old man was sentenced to a little more than four years in prison on Monday in the garroting death in 2011 of James Gerety, the victim’s brother expressed disgust with the outcome.
James Paul Harris pleaded no contest on Dec. 15 to involuntary manslaughter in the death of James Gerety, 49. Gerety was killed between March 3, 2011 and April 20, 2011, according to the criminal complaint filed in Osage County District Court.
Harris originally was charged with premeditated first-degree murder in Gerety’s slaying. On Monday, District Court Judge Phillip Fromme sentenced Harris based on a plea agreement reached in December by prosecutors and Harris’ defense attorney.
On Monday, Harris was sentenced to four years and two months in prison.
“The justice system is a joke,” Tom Gerety, victim James Gerety’s brother said. “You can murder somebody and get out in 50 months. What’s that tell everybody on the wrong side of the law?”
The prosecutor’s office accepted the plea to the less serious homicide charge of involuntary manslaughter because prosecuting James Gerety’s slaying as a premeditated first-degree murder faced challenges, Osage County Attorney Brandon Jones said.
Other than a portion of the victim’s skull, prosecutors didn’t have the victim’s body, the murder weapon hadn’t been recovered, not all the prosecution witnesses were available, and prosecutors faced “credibility issues” with a major witness, Jones said.
“It was going to be a tough case to prosecute,” Jones said.
In a plea agreement signed Dec. 15 by Harris, he acknowledged he thought he had one person felony conviction and one nonperson felony conviction.
That meant Harris would have a C criminal history on the Kansas sentencing grid, and would have received a sentence ranging from 4 years and 5 months to 5 years.
However, a federal conviction for felon in possession of a firearm was vacated and wasn’t counted in Harris’ criminal history.
Harris had been in prison in the Federal Correction Institution in Texarkana, Texas. Harris’ federal sentence was based on a felony conviction in Shawnee County District Court for fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer on Dec. 19, 2011.
In the Shawnee County case, Harris was placed on 12 months of supervised probation, which prohibited him from carrying a firearm, according to Shawnee County District Court records.
The defense in the slaying case contended the Shawnee County felony didn’t fall under the federal prohibition for carrying a firearm. By the time Harris was transported to Osage County to face the slaying case, he had served all of the federal sentence.
Without the federal felony conviction, Harris had a D criminal history, which has a sentencing range of 4 years and 2 months to 4 years and 7 months.
In the written plea agreement, the prosecutor agreed to not oppose the judge sentencing Harris to the low number in the sentencing box, which was 4 years and two months.
Harris declined to say anything during the sentencing.
The judge asked whether Tom Gerety wanted to say anything.
“It wouldn’t do any good,” Tom Gerety said.
On March 14, 2014, a former girlfriend of Harris testified he told her he killed James Gerety, of Topeka, by using a guitar string to sever the victim’s head, then….
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