Etowah District Attorney Jimmie Harp loses battle with cancer

Etowah County district attorney Jimmie Harp fought crime for 20 years, but he lost an eight year battle with cancer Wednesday. Family members and Assistant District Attorney Marcus Reid confirm Jimmie Harp died at UAB Medical Center, where he'd been treated since 2007 for cancer, at around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. He was 49.  Harp was first elected District Attorney for the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit in 2004, succeeding his mentor, James Hedgspeth. In fact, Hedgspeth kept a desk at that office throughout Harp's time as D.A.  Among Harp's best known cases during his career was his last major capital murder trial: that of Joyce Garrard, the grandmother who was convicted of running her granddaughter, Savannah Hardin, to death in February 2012.  The case made national news but it wasn't the only time Harp's office had to prosecute someone accused of killing a child. One of those other suspects, Kevin Towles, has a retrial scheduled next month.   Harp had reorganized the county's Drug Enforcement Unit. The Etowah County Drugs and Major Crimes Task Force and the Metro Gadsden Narcotics Task Force had been run as separate agencies by the Etowah County Sheriff's Office and Gadsden Police Department, respectively. Harp brought them together and soon they were joined by the other municipalities in Etowah County, even by the FBI. Harp leaves his wife, four children and a network of friends. Few people realized during the Joyce Garrard trial that her lead defense attorney, Dani Bone, was actually one of Harp's closest friends.  Harp was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma during a routine procedure in 2007. He kept the disease in and out of remission until this past Spring.

Governor Robert Bentley will likely appoint a successor to fill out Harp's unexpired term. Funeral arrangements are pending.