She was just 3 feet, 4 inches tall. She weighed 42 pounds. And she died of multiple blows to her forehead -- hard enough to tear blood vessels in the back of her brain -- and a choking so fierce it left bruises on the muscles deep in her neck.

Juanazia Harris, 4, died after five to six horrifying hours in the sole care of her mother's girlfriend, Carlitta Williams. Last night, a Richmond Circuit Court jury found Williams, 23, guilty of second-degree murder, one count of child abuse and neglect for her treatment of Juanazia and a second count of neglect involving Juanazia's 5-year-old sister.

The jury recommended Williams be sentenced to 23 years in prison on the murder charge, eight years on the child abuse and neglect charge involving Juanazia, and one year on the neglect charge involving the sister.

State medical examiners counted 64 bruises on Juanazia's body. Some were from blows with the force that an unsecured child would suffer in a car accident if the driver were going more than 35 mph. One left a 25/8-inch bruise and a dent on her forehead, and a pool of blood underneath the child's scalp.

The fatal blows to her head and strangulation bruises in her neck came within four to six hours of Juanazia's death on Aug. 5, medical experts testified. That was a period after Williams returned to the North Richmond house where she had left the little girl and her sister, a house where detectives found prescription painkillers and steak knives left lying within easy reach of the children.

Williams returned early that evening after dropping off the girls' mother at her job at a Henrico County nursing home.

Williams testified that she had been afraid the little girl had swallowed one of the painkillers after she found Juanazia picking herself up off the floor of the house. She testified that she called the girls' mother, Shari Pryor, and was told to try to make the child eat something and throw up.

Williams, who never mentioned her fears that the child was poisoned to investigators after Juanazia's death, also testified that she had seen the little girl in the bathtub shortly before she fell. Williams said the child looked fine and did not mention seeing any of her 64 bruises.

After several phone calls to Pryor, Williams testified that she decided between 9 and 10 p.m. to take Juanazia to the nursing home so Pryor could look at her. While stopping for gas on the way, she said she noticed the child was starting to be unresponsive, she initially told police. Yesterday, she testified that she didn't think of taking Juanazia to the hospital.

When they arrived at the nursing home and brought Pryor out to the car, the girl's mother began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation and told Williams to call 911. Juanazia was pronounced dead at Henrico Doctors' Hospital at 11:30 that night.

Police discovered Juanazia's 5-year-old sister at the women's house on Third Avenue the next morning. The 5-year-old was sleeping on a pile of clothes and blankets, as there was no bed or mattress in the girls' room.

Williams testified that the women regularly left the little girls on their own, relying on an alarm system to make sure that the children were safe. Pryor faces two counts of child neglect.
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com.