At the age of 15, George Harris says, he dropped out of school, left home and made a living in Kansas City dangerously on the streets primarily playing craps. It was his lifestyle up until the time he was about 30. He played in many high-stakes games; it wasn't uncommon for him to win several thousand dollars a day. High risks went with the territory too, he notes. He was robbed and shot three times, in the buttocks, in the chest (a wound which led to several weeks in the hospital) and in the wrist. He spoke with the FOR's Jeff Stack in a recent interview at the Potosi prison, and showed him through a dividing glass window, the left hand where a bullet remains lodged, left in place by doctors to prevent nerve damage, according to Harris. After the last shooting, he resolved to always carry a gun. Now he says he wished he had chosen a different profession.
In the opening minutes of September 13, Missouri State officials intend to kill Harris. He admits to fatally shooting Stanley Willoughby in March of 1989, yet "I know it's not a first-degree murder case. It was a spirit of the moment thing. I didn't go there to shoot that man. He could have shot me...I'm not a killer." Harris says he had won much money throwing craps that day, and subsequently was approached by an acquaintance wanting to "pawn "two automatic guns for $500. He agreed and took the boxed guns to the house of Michael Taylor, a neighbor, for safe-keeping. Taylor in turn gave them to Willoughby who the state claimed then gave them to Taylor's younger brothers to hide. When Harris.returned that evening, the boys were gone and Willoughby didn't know where the guns were, according to the prosecutor. Frustrated in not getting his guns, Harris then reputedly shot Willoughby.
Harris contends Willoughby and Taylor were scheming to keep the guns and perhaps kill him. After seeing Willoughby pull out a gun, Harris says he then shot the man essentially in self-defense. However, when the police arrived at the murder scene, they reported finding no gun near Willoughby. At trial, prosecutors relied on the testimony of Taylor, said to have been the only other eyewitness to the shooting. John O'Connor, Harris's trial attorney, was made aware of other prospective witnesses who were at the alleged drug house, who could have strengthened his client's version of events. Yet he called only Harris to the stand.
Harris had been convicted of one prior violent offense, armed robbery several years before the shooting. During the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutors were allowed by the court to list as "aggravating factors" (legal justifications for death-sentencing), convictions for a second armed robbery and armed criminal action (an effort to escape arrest) both occurring in Columbia. Those trials took place before his murder trial; even though he committed those crimes several days after the shooting, raising the question: were they really prior offenses?
Perhaps most remarkably, as Harris's 1996 appeal to the U.S. district court notes, "the State was seeking to have Harris convicted and executed based not on his acts but on his words." Prosecution witnesses testified Harris expressed plans to do a:"drive by shooting" with the automatic weapons and to shoot a police officer-- events which never happened. The statements "inflamed the jury," proving "he had violent thoughts" though not necessarily "a violent history."
Harris is also the father of four children, from early teenage to late 20's. His killing-- beside a moral abomination-- would also be emotionally devastating to his family perhaps for generations to come. All killing by individuals or the state is contemptible. We must support efforts to promote healing not more suffering.
What You Can Do
** Please contact Gov. Mel Carnahan (write to Room 216, State Capitol, Jefferson City MO 65101; phone 573-751-3222 or fax 573-751-1495).
Urge him to at commute the death sentence or at least stay the execution while a thorough investigation takes place determining whether charges should be lowered to a 2nd degree murder.
If he doesn't intervene join us Tuesday, September 12 for Protest Vigils
5:00- 6:00 p.m., Boone County Courthouse, Walnut St., Columbia and
11:00 p.m.- 12 a.m., Gov.'s Mansion, Jeff City (car-pool from court, 10 p.m.)
7:30.p.m.- Car-pool from Courthouse in Columbia for Potosi vigil.
For more information on either case or protests call Jeff (573-449-4585) or Rita (573-635-7239).