Brooklyn Gang Member Sentenced In Killing Of Fellow Ex-Con: DA

BROOKLYN, NY — A gang member with a prior manslaughter conviction was found guilty and sentenced for fatally shooting a fellow ex-con in Brooklyn in 2022, prosecutors said.

Harvey French, 54, was sentenced to 23 years to life for the 2022 shooting death of 56-year-old James Huff in Brownsville, authorities said. French had already been found guilty of murder and multiple other charges in October.

"Today’s sentence provides accountability for this defendant for escalating an argument into a shooting and taking a man’s life," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "Gun violence is at record lows in Brooklyn and keeping defendants such as this individual off of our streets makes communities safer."

At the time of his arrest, police also charged him with possession of a large twist of crack. Huff was shot in the chest outside the Brownsville Houses on Blake Avenue near Rockaway Avenue around 6:30 p.m. on April 18.

Prosecutors said French and Huff, who knew each other, got into a verbal dispute that turned deadly when French fired five to seven shots. Huff was hit in the chest, side and legs—and again in the back as he tried to escape—before French fled the scene.

Medics rushed Huff to Brookdale University Hospital, but he was quickly pronounced dead.

French was identified and arrested in Brooklyn nearly six months after the shooting.

At the time of his arrest, police said he was a member of the Brownsville Money gang and had served three stints in state prison, including nine years for manslaughter ending in 2007.