Woman who murdered child's father breaks down in court apologizing to his mother

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A woman found guilty of murdering her child's father has been sentenced to 125 years years in prison.

Channel 2's Tom Jones, who has covered this case from the beginning, was inside the courtroom where Ciera Harp learned her fate.

A jury found Harp guilty of murdering Rahim Grant. She recorded herself on Grant's cellphone shooting him multiple times over several minutes in front of their daughter.

During the sentencing, Harp looked right at Grant's mother in the courtroom and asked everyone for forgiveness.

"I was not in my right state of mind. Had I not been drunk, it would have never happened," Harp said. "Mrs. Grant Bryson, I am truly, truly sorry."

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Harp called it an accident when she recorded herself shooting Grant multiple times in his apartment in 2017. She told police Grant had beaten her that night and she shot him in self-defense.

Then police uncovered cellphone video Grant shot of himself on camera saying she stabbed him. Harp turned the video on and off as she shot him over 13 minutes as their daughter watched.

On the video, Grant could be heard warning Harp that she is going to spend a long time in prison after she kept shooting him.

"I don't care if I go to jail for the rest of my life," Harp said  in the video. Grant's warning came true.

Harp's attorney asked for a five-year sentence. Judge Robert Mack sentenced Harp to 125 years. Grant’s mother was happy with the sentence.

“It still feels like I’m in a dream and I can’t wake up,” Geraldine Grant Bryson told Jones.

During the trial, Harp’s mother spoke for the prosecution and went on a rant against her daughter on the stand.

“You murdered Rahim,” Adrienne Thurmond said sternly staring at her daughter last month. “Wherever you went chaos and trouble were sure to follow.”

[RELATED: Mother goes off on killer daughter during dramatic sentencing]

Harp’s uncle testified her mother was part of the problem.

“The relationship in the home was quite toxic,” Ted Thurmond said.

Grant’s mother said that was not true and Harp’s mother did what other mothers with children who commit crimes refuse to do.

“You need to come up and you need to turn them in. You need to stand for what’s right,” Grant Bryson said.

Cox Media Group