'Mastermind' convicted of murder

Kareem Shamel Harry was sentenced to 31 years in jail with no chance of parole Thursday afternoon in Horry County court after being found guilty of killing Kevin Bowen in Murrells Inlet.

Testimony began Tuesday and the State rested its case Wednesday afternoon. The defense began its case the same day.

On March 1, 2011, Harry and others arrived at a home Bowen shared with his girlfriend and their infant child. Neither Bowen nor his girlfriend knew Harry or the men he brought to Bowen’s home. In defense of his property, Bowen displayed a firearm in his waistband in an apparent attempt to dissuade Harry and his compatriots from causing any trouble, according to information provided by the Horry County Solicitor’s Office.

Testimony revealed that there was a disagreement concerning a television that Bowen had received from a former girlfriend of Harry’s. After a brief argument in which Bowen informed Harry that he would not give give him the television or any more money, Saire Castro, whom Harry had brought to Bowen’s home, pulled a .357 revolver and shot Bowen three times, murdering Bowen in his own yard while his infant daughter slept in the house.

Harry and his crew fled the scene in two vehicles. Although police were able to quickly locate the vehicles, Harry bolted from the vehicle and fled for two days.

Only after Saire Castro escaped from police custody did Harry turn himself in to Horry County police.

Saire Jerrel Castro, 24, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in September of 2012. He was sentenced to 30 years in jail.

Testimony revealed that Harry was informed of the location of his television in the Kings Grant neighborhood. At the time Harry received this information, he was less than three miles away from that neighborhood.

Instead of attempting to retrieve the television in a peaceable manner, Harry decided to travel 30 minutes out of his way, conspire with Castro who was known to carry a firearm and seek his armed assistance in attempting to forceably retake the television.

At that point, Harry led his crew back to Kevin Bowen’s home. Because Harry masterminded the plan to retake the television, sought assistance from an armed gunman, led that gunman to Bowen’s doorstep and assisted in surrounding Bowen in Bowen’s own yard, the jury found him guilty of murder under the theory of “Hand of One is the Hand of All,” according to information provided by the Horry County Solicitor’s Office.

As Senior Solicitor Brad C. Richardson stated in his closing argument, “Saire Castro may have pulled the trigger, but it was Kareem Harry that was pulling Castro’s strings.”

Harry was the planner, the schemer and the only person who would have been enriched by taking this television from Kevin Bowen; he planned the crime and when it went bad, he ran from the police, according to information provided by the Horry County Solicitor’s Office.