Gun seller off probation early

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 15, 2001

LARGO -- A teenager charged with selling a semiautomatic rifle to a self-avowed skinhead who used it to kill a 6-year-old girl two years ago was taken off probation Tuesday, months earlier than expected.

George Harvell, now 21, of St. Petersburg, had been on probation since October 1999, when he pleaded guilty to a charge of selling a rifle to a minor. A judge withheld a formal finding of guilt and sentenced him to 30 months' probation, which was to end in mid 2002.

But his attorney, Jay Hebert, asked Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Nelly Khouzam to take him off probation early because he was a model petitioner who had completed all the terms of his probation -- including not associating with hate groups or handling any weapons. A Department of Corrections representative agreed with Hebert at the hearing Tuesday.

Harvell, a former high school dropout who once shared some of the same racist views as the shooter, now works full time and has attended junior college classes.

"George is very happy to have this chapter of his life closed," Hebert said. "He's done exceptionally well."

Harvell sold a Chinese semiautomatic rifle to friend Jessy Joe Roten, then 17, in 1999 for $300. A month later on April 3, 1999, after a fight with his girlfriend, Roten went into an alley near his Lealman-area home just north of St. Petersburg.

Police say Roten fired at least 12 rounds from the gun, one of which pierced the nearby home of Terry Mance, who is black, and his then-fiancee, who is white. The couple have since married.

The single bullet killed Ashley Mance and wounded her twin sister, Aleesha, and their 4-year-old half-sister, Jailene Jones.

Recent coverage

A lifetime to think about hate (December 1, 2000)

Man who sold rifle used in girl's killing is spared prison (October 29, 1999)

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