Man Who Killed His Neighbor Lashes Out

Moments before getting a 19-years-to-life prison sentence on Thursday for killing his neighbor in a frontyard dispute, a Simi Valley college student launched into a bitter tirade.

Christopher Harbridge blamed the victim, Ron Rowe, saying, “This man terrorized my life,” and pushed him to kill in self-defense.

“I’m not sad Ron Rowe’s dead,” he said.

He blamed the victim’s father, John Rowe Sr., saying the man lied repeatedly on the witness stand about the feud between Harbridge and Ron Rowe that led to the younger Rowe spraying Harbridge with pepper spray before the Dec. 5 shooting.

Harbridge blamed the prosecutor.

He blamed his former defense attorney.

He blamed the press.

Then he lit into the victim’s father again: “If there’s any murderer in this courtroom, John Rowe’s the murderer. He took my life . . . not going to survive that long in prison. This is a death sentence, based on the word of one man who lied.”

But John Rowe had already bolted from the courtroom seconds into Harbridge’s pre-sentencing statement, muttering, “I don’t have to listen to this.”

Ray Hill, the victim’s uncle, spoke angrily from the back of the courtroom, “You still have your life. My nephew’s dead.”

Harbridge continued, “The way I look at it, everybody in this courtroom’s guilty, not me.”

Superior Court Judge Vincent O’Neill remained cool through the 27-year-old former Moorpark College journalism student’s 15-minute speech.

O’Neill had already sat through a four-hour hearing on a defense bid for a new trial for Harbridge.

The judge had already reduced the original verdict from first-degree murder before Harbridge began.

He had refused to grant a new trial, despite defense attorney Richard Hanawalt’scontention that Harbridge’s previous attorney, James Goldstein, had failed to show the jury evidence that Ron Rowe had attacked other neighbors and provoked the deadly conflict.

And O’Neill had refused to reduce the charge to manslaughter, “because I believe malice, as defined by the law, was present.”

“However, I find that Mr. Harbridge did not deliberate what he did to the extent required by law for first-degree murder,” O’Neill had ruled. “I declare this offense to be second-degree murder.”

Then, O’Neill looked at family snapshots of the victim. And he listened to tearful statements by his relatives.

“Of all the pictures taken of the boys . . . Ronnie always had a smile on his face,” Hill said. “That’s a smile we won’t have anymore. The Harbridges still have their baby boy. We don’t have Ronnie any more. Mr. Harbridge has shown no remorse for what he did. All he’s shown is contempt.”

*

The victim’s brother, Danny, read a letter from a cousin who fondly remembered listening to Van Halen music with Ron Rowe when they were teenagers.

“Never again will we have Ron’s laughter or enjoy one of his big bear hugs,” Danny Rowe read.

“May God forgive the murderer . . ., “ he read, stopping to glare at Harbridge, “because I can’t.”

By this point in the hearing, six armed deputies stood guard in case of trouble.

As Danny Rowe rose from the prosecution table to return to his seat, one deputy stepped between him and Harbridge, but Rowe went to his seat quietly.

O’Neill also reviewed a newspaper photograph taken moments after the verdict in the case, showing Harbridge thrusting both middle fingers at the Rowe family.

Then, after hearing Harbridge’s rambling, vitriolic statement, the judge listened to arguments from the attorneys.

“The defendant’s statement shows his arrogance and his absolute lack of honest remorse,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James Ellison. “I’m convinced the jury’s verdict of first-degree murder is correct. I think he’s a cold, calculated individual, and I’d ask the court to impose the upper term.”

Though the second-degree murder charge is fixed by law at 15 years to life, the judge had the option of imposing three, four or five years for the weapon charge, Ellison said.

Hanawalt tried to soften his client’s statements, saying, “His sense of frustration is probably heightened by the fact that he’s relived this situation thousands of times.

“We have to ask what would anybody else do in the same circumstances?

“What is remorse when a person has . . . although improperly, used self-defense against an attack?” asked Hanawalt, citing other neighbors’ complaints about harassment by Ron Rowe.

When they were done, O’Neill thought for a moment and then spoke.

“Tempting as it is, after Mr. Harbridge’s statements, to impose what is the maximum, I’m going to impose the middle term on the use allegation,” he said. O’Neill then sentenced Harbridge to 15 years to life for second-degree murder and four years for use of a weapon.

*

He also imposed a $10,000 restitution fine and asked if Harbridge understood that if he is paroled and commits another crime, he will be imprisoned again.

Harbridge answered bluntly, “Your honor, at this point, I don’t think it matters whether I do understand.”

O’Neill asked if Harbridge understood that he has 60 days in which to appeal the sentence.

“I don’t think the court has any concern for what I do understand,” Harbridge snapped.

O’Neill then told Harbridge of his right to have a publicly funded appeals lawyer. And the bailiffs--now numbering eight--led him away to the lockup without incident.

Afterward, John Rowe Sr. said, “I was quite disappointed with the change in the verdict. If all the facts were known, he would have gotten life in prison without parole.”