Robert Alton Harris: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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{{shortShort description|American murderer (1953–1992)}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Robert Alton Harris
| image_name = Robert Alton Harris 1990.gif
| image_size =
| image_caption = Robert Alton Harris in 1990
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1953|1|15}}
| birth_place = [[Fort Bragg]], [[North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|4|21|1953|1|15}}
| death_place = [[San Quentin State Prison]], [[San Quentin, California]], U.S.
| alias =
| motive =
| conviction = '''Federal'''<br>[[Title 18 of the United States Code|Bank robbery (18 U.S.C. § 2113)]]<br>'''California'''<br>[[Murder (United States law)|First degree murder]] with [[Special circumstances (criminal law)|special circumstances]] (2 counts)<br>[[Voluntary manslaughter]]<br>[[Kidnapping]] (2 counts), [[Robbery]] (2 counts)<br>[[Possession of stolen goods|Receiving stolen property]]
| charge =
| conviction_penalty = '''Federal'''<br>25 years imprisonment<br>'''California'''<br>[[Capital punishment in California|Death]] (March 6, 1979)▼
| conviction = [[Murder]], [[kidnapping]], [[burglary]], [[robbery]] (March 6, 1979)
| conviction_status = [[Executed]]▼
▲| conviction_penalty = [[Capital punishment in California|Death]] (March 6, 1979)
| occupation = ▼
▲| conviction_status = Executed
| victims = James Wheeler <br> John Mayeski and Michael Baker, 16▼
▲| occupation =
| date = 1975 <br> July 5, 1978▼
▲| victims = James Wheeler <br> John Mayeski and Michael Baker, 16
| death_cause = [[Execution by [[gas chamber]]▼
▲| date = 1975 <br> July 5, 1978
| nationality = American▼
▲| death_cause = Execution by [[gas chamber]]
▲| nationality = American
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
'''Robert Alton Harris''' (January 15, 1953 – April 21, 1992) was an American [[car thief]], [[burglar]], [[Kidnapping|kidnapper]] and [[murder]]er who was executed at [[San Quentin State Prison]] in 1992 for the 1978 murders of two teenage boys in [[San Diego]]. His execution was the first in the state of [[California]] since 1967.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1979-01-25 |title=Harris guilty |pages=21 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97078220/harris-guilty/ |access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>
Harris was born in [[Fort Bragg]], North Carolina, and was abused as a child. He had run-ins with police as early as age 10, and was first placed into juvenile detention at age 13 for stealing a car. His mother abandoned him at age 14 and he was soon after placed into juvenile detention after stealing another car. Following his release he found work, married, and had a son. In 1975 he was imprisoned for [[manslaughter]] and [[parole]]d in January 1978.
On July 5, 1978, Harris and his younger brother commandeered a car occupied by two 16-year-old boys, John Mayeski and Michael Baker, ordered them to drive to a remote area, then killed them. The brothers then used the car as their [[getaway car]] when they [[bank robbery|robbed a bank]] in San Diego. He was arrested less than an hour after the robbery and charged with murder, auto theft, kidnapping, burglary, and bank robbery. One of the arresting officers, Steve Baker, was the father of one of the murdered boys, but did not realize the victim was his son until later. Harris was convicted and sentenced to death on March 6, 1979. After a series of appeals and [[stay of execution|stays of execution]], he was executed in San Quentin's [[gas chamber]] on April 21, 1992.
==Early life and criminal record/history==
Robert Alton Harris was born at [[Fort Bragg]] in [[North Carolina]], the fifth of nine children of Kenneth and Evelyn Harris.<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421>{{cite news|last=Morain|first=Dan|title=From Birth to Death Row, Violence Surrounded Harris|url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-21/news/-mn-608_1_robert608-harrisstory.html|accessdateaccess-date=1 June 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=21 April 1992|archive-date=19 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319134829/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-04-21/news/mn-608_1_robert-harris|url-status=deadlive}}</ref><ref name=NYT_19900331>{{cite news|last=Gross|first=Jane|title=California Execution Stayed: State Is Appealing to High Court|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/us/california-execution-stayed-state-is-appealing-to-high-court.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|accessdate=31 May 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=31 March 1990|archive-date=22 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122191424/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/us/california-execution-stayed-state-is-appealing-to-high-court.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Kenneth was a sergeant in the [[United States Army]] who was awarded a [[Silver Star]] and [[Purple Heart]] for his service in [[World War II]].<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/> Both parents were [[alcoholic]]s, and Robert reportedly was born two months [[preterm birth|premature]] as a result of Kenneth kicking Evelyn in the abdomen;<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/> Robert is also reported to have suffered from [[fetal alcohol syndrome]].<ref name=NYT_19900331/> Robert was especially targeted for abuse by his father, who believed that Robert was conceived in an [[extramarital sex|affair]].<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/> The Harris family moved to [[Visalia, California]] in 1962 following Kenneth Harris' discharge from the Army. Kenneth Harris was jailed in 1963 for 18 months and again for a longer period of time in 1964, both times for sexually abusing his daughters.<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/> With Kenneth in jail, the remaining family members lived a migrant life around the [[San Joaquin Valley]].
Robert spent four months in [[juvenile hall]] at age 13 for [[motor vehicle theft|stealing a car]].<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/> During his time at the juvenile detention centre, Harris was repeatedly raped.<ref>Vogel, Lawrence. 1993. "Understanding and Blaming: Problems in the Attribution of Moral Responsibility". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 53 (1). [International Phenomenological Society, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Wiley]: 129–42. {{doi|10.2307/2108057}}.</ref> In 1967, Evelyn [[Child abandonment|abandoned]] Robert, then 14, in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] and left him to fend for himself.<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/><ref name=NYT_19900331/><ref name=ClarkCoIN>{{cite web|title=Robert Alton Harris|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/harris169.htm|publisher=Clark County (Indiana) Prosecuting Attorney|access-date=31 May 2012|archive-date=25 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425021330/http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/harris169.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> After making his way to [[Oklahoma]] to live with his brother and sister, he stole a car and was subsequently arrested in [[Florida]].<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/><ref name=CDCR_Harris>{{cite web|title=Robert Alton Harris|url=httphttps://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Capital_Punishmentcapital-punishment/inmates_executedinmates-executed-1978-to-present/robert-alton-harris/robertHarris.html|publisher=California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation|accessdate=314 MayJune 20122022}}</ref> He spent the next three years in the Florida juvenile detention system, but when he turned 19, the system could no longer keep him, and he was sent to [[Chula Vista, California]].<ref name="CDCR_Harris"/> In June 1973 Harris married, and the couple had a son, Robert, Jr., born in October 1974.<ref name="LAT_19920906">{{cite news|last=Morain|first=Dan|title=Son of Executed Killer Faces Trial|url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-06/news/-mn-287_1_robert287-alton-harrisstory.html|accessdateaccess-date=1 June 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=6 September 1992|archive-date=22 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222071116/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-09-06/news/mn-287_1_robert-alton-harris|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1975 while living in a [[trailer park]] in [[Imperial County, California|Imperial County]],<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/> Harris beat his brother Ken's roommate, RobertJames Wheeler, to death, claiming he did so to protect the victim's wife; however, it was later determined that he beat the victim without provocation.<ref name=ClarkCoIN /> He was convicted of [[voluntary manslaughter]] and imprisoned in [[San Luis Obispo, California|San Luis Obispo]];<ref name=LAT_Morain19920421/> during his imprisonment Harris' wife filed for [[divorce]].<ref name="LAT_19920906"/> Harris was [[parole]]d in January 1978.<ref name=CDCR_Harris />
==San Diego murders==
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==Conviction and execution==
[[File:Robert Alton Harris 1985.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Robert Alton Harris in 1985]]
The [[San Diego County District Attorney]]'s Office filed felony charges of auto theft, kidnapping, murder and burglary against Robert Harris, while the U.S. Attorney's Office filed bank robbery charges against him. Harris pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bank robbery and received a 25-year sentence.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1979-01-25 |title=Bank robbery |page=15 |work=The Fresno Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97078573/bank-robbery/ |access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>
On March 6, 1979, Robert Harris was convicted in the [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]] Superior Court of two counts of murder in the first degree with special circumstances as well as two counts of kidnapping, and was sentenced to death. Daniel Harris was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to six years in state prison; he was released in 1983. An [[appeal]] for [[clemency]] to California governor [[Pete Wilson]] – who was [[mayor of San Diego]] at the time of the killings – was rejected in a live television news conference, where Wilson read a statement acknowledging Harris' abusive childhood but ended with a clear rejection of the clemency request, saying, "As great as is my compassion for Robert Harris the child, I cannot excuse or forgive the choice made by Robert Harris the man."<ref>Janet Golden, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2005/is_2_33/ai_58675447 "An Argument That Goes Back to the Womb: The Demedicalization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, 1973–1992,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318024353/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2005/is_2_33/ai_58675447 |date=2007-03-18 }} ''Journal of Social HIstory'', Vol. 33, 1999</ref><ref>{{YouTube|3zNW4kqAKEU|Statement of governor Pete Wilson}}</ref> Wilson then left without waiting for reporters' questions.▼
The [[San Diego County hi
District Attorney]]'s Office filed felony charges of auto theft, kidnapping, murder and burglary against Robert Harris, while the U.S. Attorney's Office filed bank robbery charges against him. On March 6, 1979, Robert Harris was convicted in the [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]] Superior Court of two counts of murder in the first degree with special circumstances as well as two counts of kidnapping, and was sentenced to death. Daniel Harris was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to six years in state prison; he was released in 1983.
▲An [[appeal]] for [[clemency]] to California governor [[Pete Wilson]] – who was [[mayor of San Diego]] at the time of the killings – was rejected in a live television news conference, where Wilson read a statement acknowledging Harris' abusive childhood but ended with a clear rejection of the clemency request, saying, "As great as is my compassion for Robert Harris the child, I cannot excuse or forgive the choice made by Robert Harris the man."<ref>Janet Golden, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2005/is_2_33/ai_58675447 "An Argument That Goes Back to the Womb: The Demedicalization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, 1973–1992,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318024353/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2005/is_2_33/ai_58675447 |date=2007-03-18 }} ''Journal of Social HIstory'', Vol. 33, 1999</ref><ref>{{YouTube|3zNW4kqAKEU|Statement of governor Pete Wilson}}</ref> Wilson then left without waiting for reporters' questions.
Harris' death sentence was affirmed by the [[Supreme Court of California]] in 1981.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12051877498257661884 ''People v. Harris''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816031434/https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12051877498257661884 |date=2021-08-16 }}, 623 P.2d 240, 28 Cal. 3d 935, 171 Cal. Rptr. 679 (1981).</ref> In 1982, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]] granted a writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' relieving Harris of the death sentence, vacating a contrary district court order. The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] reimposed Harris' death sentence in ''[[Pulley v. Harris]]'' (1984), reversing the Ninth Circuit by a vote of 7–2.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pulley v. Harris|url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1983/82-1095|website=[[Oyez Project]]|accessdate=9 April 2018|archive-date=23 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123072904/https://www.oyez.org/cases/1983/82-1095|url-status=live}}</ref>
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In 1990, federal appeals court judge [[John T. Noonan Jr.]] issued a [[stay of execution]], as Harris argued that childhood brain damage interfered with his judgment during his crimes.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gross|first=Jane|title=California Execution Stayed: State Is Appealing to High Court|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/us/california-execution-stayed-state-is-appealing-to-high-court.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|accessdate=April 26, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 31, 1990|archive-date=January 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122191424/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/us/california-execution-stayed-state-is-appealing-to-high-court.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|url-status=live}}</ref>
Harris was scheduled to die on April 21, 1992.<ref name=102YaleLJ225>{{cite journal|last1=Caminker|first1=Evan|authorlink1=Evan H. Caminker|last2=Chemerinsky|first2=Erwin|authorlink2=Erwin Chemerinsky|title=The Lawless Execution of Robert Alton Harris|journal=[[Yale Law Journal]]|date=October 1992|volume=102|issue=1|pages=225|doi=10.2307/796775|jstor=796775|url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1586&context=faculty_scholarship|accessdate=9 April 2018|archive-date=16 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816031433/https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1586&context=faculty_scholarship|url-status=live}}</ref> On April 18, U.S. District Judge [[Marilyn Hall Patel]] issued a [[temporary restraining order]] barring Harris' execution while she considered his lawsuit challenging the gas chamber's constitutionality.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/>A Onthree Aprilmember 22,panel of the Ninth Circuit issued an emergency writ of mandate vacating the restraining order, in which Judge [[Arthur Alarcón]] was joined by Judge [[Melvin T. Brunetti]], over the dissent of Judge Noonan.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/><ref>See also: {{cite journal|last1=Calabresi|first1=Steven G.|authorlink1=Steven G. Calabresi|last2=Lawson|first2=Gary|title=Equity and Hierarchy: Reflections on the Harris Execution|journal=Yale Law Journal|date=October 1992|volume=102|issue=1|pages=255|doi=10.2307/796776|jstor=796776|url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7455&context=ylj|access-date=2019-09-20|archive-date=2019-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427182432/https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7455&context=ylj|url-status=live}}, {{cite journal|last1=Reinhardt|first1=Judge Stephen|authorlink1=Stephen Reinhardt|title=The Supreme Court, The Death Penalty, and The Harris Case|journal=Yale Law Journal|date=October 1992|volume=102|issue=1|pages=205–23|doi=10.2307/796774|jstor=796774|url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7453&context=ylj|access-date=2019-09-24|archive-date=2019-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427173034/https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7453&context=ylj|url-status=live}}, {{cite journal|last1=Noonan|first1=John T.|authorlink1=John T. Noonan Jr.|title=Horses of the Night: ''Harris v. Vasquez''|journal=[[Stanford Law Review]]|date=April 1993|volume=45|issue=4|pages=1011–25|doi=10.2307/1229202|jstor=1229202}}</ref>
On April 20, the U.S. Supreme hi Court had vacated a separate stay of execution the Ninth Circuit had issued on Harris' habeas corpus petition.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/> That evening, a group of Ninth Circuit judges ordered the execution stayed while the circuit considered granting [[en banc]] consideration of his lawsuit.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/> Later that evening, the Ninth Circuit entered a third stay blocking the execution while it reconsidered reimposing the lower court's temporary restraining order.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/> That night, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a [[per curiam decision]] vacating the Ninth Circuit's stays and allowing the execution to proceed, by a vote of 7–2.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/><ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3666155487582015962 ''Gomez v. United States Dist. Court for Northern Dist. of Cal.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816031435/https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3666155487582015962 |date=2021-08-16 }}, 503 U.S. 653 (1992).</ref>
On April 21, 1992, at 3:49 a.m., Harris was strapped into the gas chamber.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/> Seconds before execution, Ninth Circuit Judge [[Harry Pregerson]] stayed the execution for the fourth time, explaining that Harris should be allowed to begin a new lawsuit in state court.<ref name=102YaleLJ225/> Two hours later, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated that stay, explicitly ordering that ''"No further stays of Robert Alton Harris' execution shall be entered by the federal courts except upon order of this Court."''<ref name=102YaleLJ225/>
Harris was executed on April 21, 1992, in the [[gas chamber]] at [[San Quentin State Prison]] – the first execution in California in 25 years. For his [[last meal]], he had requested and was given a 21-piece bucket of [[Kentucky Fried Chicken]], two large [[Domino's]] pizzas, a bag of [[jelly bean]]s, a six-pack of [[Pepsi]], and a pack of [[Camel cigarettes]]. At 6:01 a.m., Harrishe was escorted into the gas chamber. The execution order was given at 6:07 a.m. and Harris died atBy 6:2114 a.m. Hishe bodyhad wasceased removedmoving fromand thewas chamberdeclared atdead 7seven minutes later.<ref>[https:00 a//www.mlatimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-22-mn-509-story.html andWitness wasto takenthe toExecution], alatimes.com. funeralApril home22, at1992. Accessed June 8:15 a.m.{{cn|date=September, 2021}}2024.</ref>
Harris'sThe execution is specifically remembered for his choice of final words (recorded by Warden Daniel Vasquez): "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper."<ref>{{YouTube|yeSJh1uBkh8|Robert Alton Harris' final words read out loud by warden Daniel Vasquez}}</ref> It was the subject of a 1995 Dutch documentary film, ''[[Procedure 769, witness to an execution]]''. His words are based on the 1991 film ''[[Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey]]'' as "You might be a king or a little street sweeper but sooner or later you dance with the reaper"; the lyric was written by actor [[William Sadler (actor)|William Sadler]] for his character in the 1991 film.<ref>{{cite web |title=Film's "Reaper Rap' inspired condemned's last words |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/04/23/film-s-reaper-rap-inspired-condemned-s-last-words/ |website=Tampa Bay Times |publisher=Times Publishing Company |date=April 23, 1992}}</ref>
==See also==
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{{sequence|
prev=[[Aaron Mitchell (murderer)|Aaron Mitchell]]|
list=[[Capital punishment in California|Executions conductedcarried and scheduledout in California]]|
next=[[David Mason (murderer)|David Edwin Mason]]
}}
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[[Category:American murderers of children]]
[[Category:American people convicted of manslaughter]]
[[Category:American people convictedexecuted offor murder]]
[[Category:Executed American people]]
[[Category:Executed people from North Carolina]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by California]]
[[Category:People executed by California by gas chamber]]
[[Category:People executedfrom forFort murderLiberty, North Carolina]]
[[Category:People from Fort Bragg, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Florida]]