Robert Alton Harris: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Article Images

Line 1:

{{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''': [[Title 18 of the United States Code|Bank robbery (U.S.C. 18 U.S.C. § 2113)]] '''California''': [[Murder|First degree murder with special circumstances]] (2 counts) [[Voluntary manslaughter]] [[Kidnapping]] (2 counts), [[Robbery]] (2 counts) [[Possession of stolen goods|Receiving stolen property]]

~~| charge =~~

| conviction_penalty = '''Federal''': 25 years imprisonment '''California''': [[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 John Mayeski and Michael Baker, 16▼

▲| occupation =

| date = 1975 July 5, 1978▼

▲| victims = James Wheeler John Mayeski and Michael Baker, 16

| death_cause = Execution by [[gas chamber]]▼

▲| date = 1975 July 5, 1978

| nationality = American▼

▲| death_cause = Execution by [[gas chamber]]

▲| nationality = American

}}

'''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.

Line 42 ⟶ 41:

[[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 |pages=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.