Cape man pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter

A Cape Girardeau man pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter in connection with a 2012 shooting at a now-closed nightclub.

Alexander Harris, 25, admitted he was responsible for the Dec. 16, 2012, shooting death of Nicholas Gilbert, 32, of Sikeston, Missouri.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a pair of unrelated drug charges against Harris stemming from a Jan. 31 search warrant.

He initially had been charged with possession of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff said Tuesday.

Harris was sentenced to five years in prison for the manslaughter charge.

In 2013, his younger brother, Malcolm Harris, was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the case.

Prosecutors later dismissed that charge, citing insufficient evidence to present the case to a jury.

Woodruff said from the time Malcolm Harris' charges were dropped, investigators suspected his brother's involvement in the shooting, but authorities lacked sufficient evidence to charge the elder Harris.

Witnesses told police both Harrises were at The Spot, 433 S. Sprigg St., at the time of the shooting, according to a probable-cause statement filed by Detective Don Perry of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Gilbert and Malcolm Harris became involved in an altercation on the dance floor, Perry wrote.

During the altercation, someone produced a gun, which Alexander Harris took, Perry wrote.

"Alexander Harris then recklessly discharged the firearm, shooting himself through the hand and fatally shooting Nicholas Gilbert in the chest," Perry wrote. " ... Alexander Harris has admitted to his actions, which led to Gilbert's death."

Officers dispatched to The Spot after the shooting found a trail of blood beginning about 10 feet from Gilbert's body and leading out into the nightclub's parking lot, Perry wrote.

The Spot closed in the wake of the shooting.

In a news release Tuesday, Woodruff said authorities were hampered by a lack of cooperative witnesses.

"Unfortunately, this is a crime that occurred in a crowded bar with nearly 100 people present, none of [whom] claim to have seen anything," she said. "I believe Mr. Harris entered a plea of guilty today to exactly what he is guilty of, and while the sentence may be lower than I had initially hoped to see when this crime occurred, I do believe that in light of all of the circumstances that the sentence is appropriate."

In the release, Woodruff said from the time Alexander Harris was arrested on the drug charges Jan. 31, prosecutors made "a very concerted effort" to get him to plead guilty to the shooting.

Involuntary manslaughter is a Class C felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Online court records show Alexander Harris has a string of prior offenses dating to May 2006, when he pleaded guilty to tampering with a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, assault on a law-enforcement officer and resisting arrest.

In November 2006, while on probation for the first set of charges, Harris pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and was sentenced to six months in jail.

In March 2009, he pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to five years in prison, to be served concurrently with a five-year sentence for the May 2006 case.

More recently, Harris pleaded guilty in 2011 to marijuana possession and in 2013 to receiving stolen property. The last two charges were misdemeanors.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

433 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO