MUSKEGON, MI – A Muskegon County jury found Craig Reginald Lewis guilty of second-murder and felony firearm Tuesday, Nov. 5, in the fatal shooting of Frank Harris.

It took jurors less than two hours to convict Lewis, who claims he fired in self-defense after Harris shot at him. Lewis, 28, had been charged with open murder, which gave jurors the options of acquittal or conviction of either first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter.

Lewis showed no visible reaction as Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks read the verdict of the jury, which consisted of six white men, five white women and one African-American woman. The jurors began deliberating around 1 p.m. and reported they had a verdict shortly before 3 p.m.

Hicks set sentencing for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 2. Lewis will also be sentenced for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for a felony firearm count attached to that. He pleaded guilty to those charges on the eve of trial Oct. 27.

The 33-year-old Harris was shot once in the forehead early Aug. 15, 2012, at his home in the 2300 block of Wood Street in Muskegon Heights. He was shot after trying to break up two fistfights that had erupted outside his home among a group of people who had been hanging out there for a “get-together.”

Harris died 13 days later in a Detroit hospital without regaining consciousness.

Speaking for the victim’s family, his sister, Timeka Harris of Detroit, said after the verdict: “We want to thank the community for all the support throughout the proceedings, though Frank’s hospitalization, the funeral service and the trial. The community has really been outgoing with support for us.

“We are happy with the verdict,” she said.

“It is helpful to all of us,” Timeka Harris said. “We’ll never get him back. But we are happy that justice is served. It will be a long process to accept it, but at least we now have closure.”

Second-degree murder carries a maximum prison sentence of “life or any term of years,” with parole a possibility. The felony firearm convictions carry mandatory sentences of two years to be served first before the other terms begin. Lewis was charged as a fourth-time habitual offender based on prior convictions including marijuana delivery and resisting and obstructing police officers, which could lengthen his sentence on the murder and felon-in-possession counts.

Earlier Tuesday, Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Robert Hedges and public defender Fred J. Lesica made their closing arguments to jurors.

Both sides agreed on many of the facts of the case.

It happened, they agreed, after a night of hanging out by about a dozen people at Harris’s home that included drinking and drug use. Harris, they agreed, was shot after he tried to break up the fistfights.

Lewis, one of the fighters, on the stand last week admitted firing a volley of shots at the home with his .357 Magnum revolver. Lewis admitted immediately fleeing the scene to Detroit, where he was arrested Aug. 29.

But here’s where the two sides differed: Police and prosecutors said Lewis was firing at Harris’s house in anger and without provocation, with one bullet going through a kitchen wall and striking the fleeing Harris as he dived for the floor.

Lewis’s version was that -- although he admittedly fired a first, single shot up into the air in anger at Harris’ interference -- Harris then got his own gun from the house and began firing at Lewis. That, Lewis testified, led Lewis to run behind his car and fire back repeatedly at the house to defend himself from Harris.

Lewis’ girlfriend, Davitta Jones, who is also Harris’ cousin, also testified she saw Harris firing a gun. No other witness testified to that, and Harris’ girlfriend, Kourtney Perry, testified she saw no gun with Harris that night.

Lewis said one of Harris’ bullets struck Lewis a grazing wound in the left lower leg, and several bullets hit his car. Lewis when arrested two weeks after Harris’ shooting had a wound on his leg that might have been the track of a bullet, and his car had two grazing bullet tracks on it and one bullet hole in the trunk.

Hedges, the prosecutor, scoffed at that story and suggested Lewis did those things to himself and his car to cover his tracks after the fact. He said many other elements of the evidence also don’t fit that claim, including the fact that police never found traces of bullets in the area where Lewis said his car was parked.

Hedges also noted that the defense never produced evidence that Lewis sought medical help for his supposed gunshot wound; that a brother of Lewis from Detroit who testified he saw blood on Craig Lewis’ leg that morning testified twice that it was his right leg, not his left; and that the brother didn’t testify that he saw any bullet holes in the car that morning. Hedges also said fleeing to Detroit without calling police was evidence of guilt, not self-defense.

Hedges argued for the top conviction, first-degree premeditated murder, arguing that the repeated shots fired gave Lewis time to reflect on his actions and stop.

But failing that, Hedges said, the shooting was clearly at least second-degree murder. To prove that, it’s enough to show that a defendant demonstrated “wanton and willful disregard” of the likelihood that his actions – in this case, shooting at Harris’ house – would cause someone’s death or great bodily harm.

Lesica argued that the prosecution had failed to prove its case for murder beyond a reasonable doubt, especially given Lewis’ evidence of a possible gunshot wound on his leg and of bullets in his car.

Lesica noted that no witness saw the fatal shot fired – all scattered after the first bullet was fired – and he pointed to conflicting testimony from some of the prosecution witnesses.

If jurors disbelieved Lewis’ and his girlfriend’s testimony, Lesica argued, the most they could convict Lewis of would be manslaughter – causing death by acting “rashly or on impulse,” using “passion instead of judgment.”

John S. Hausman covers courts, prisons, the environment and local government for MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at jhausman@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter.