James Williams was sentenced today to 35 years in prison for the murder of Shannon Harps. Judge Palmer Robinson sentenced the 50-year-old Williams this afternoon, seventeen months after the 2007 New Year’s Eve knife attack in which Williams admitted he stabbed Harps to death. Williams pleaded guilty to first degree murder last week. He had spent most of the months since his arrest in January 2008 in Western State Hospital undergoing treatment to make him mentally fit for trial.

In a statement to the court, Shannon’s mother Angela Harps wrote, “Her loss has meant the loss of our future. We will never know what she might have become. A mother, a leader, a professor, or just the wonderful, independent, caring and loving daughter that we raised.”

You can read all family statements in the PDF attached to this post.