Man Convicted of Manslaughter in Student's Death

Mar 3, 2000 - 08:22 PM
The Associated Press

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - One of three men charged with fatally shooting a University of South Alabama student during a drug robbery outside a Pensacola restaurant has been convicted of manslaughter.

Prosecutors had sought a first-degree murder conviction against Joey Lee Harper, 23, but a jury found him guilty of the lesser offense Thursday for the April 9, 1999 death of Klie Faulkner, 23, after deliberating for 10 hours.

Harper faces a maximum of 15 years in prison instead of a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole if he had been convicted as charged. Prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty. Circuit Judge John Kuder set sentencing for March 30.

Two other defendants, Jesse James Nelson, 25, and Chris Kye, 21, also are charged with first-degree murder.

Harper testified he never intended for Faulkner to be shot and that it was Nelson, set for trial in April, who killed the victim as he resisted being robbed.

Witnesses said Faulkner, originally from Pensacola, was eating with a female friend at a Bennigan's restaurant near University Mall when Harper approached and asked him to go outside.

Investigators said Harper told Faulkner he wanted to buy Ecstacy as a ploy to get him into the parking lot where they planned to rob him of his drugs and money.

 TOP