EGN NEWS DESK
Attorneys Peter J. Morreale and Darryl Exum cross-examined Googie Rene Harris Jr. in Superior Court in Riverside this week over his plea take care of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office that allowed him to confess to a cost of accent to homicide and face not more than a yr in county jail.
In return for his testimony in opposition to his father, 67-year-old Googie Renee Harris Sr., and a 58-year-old cousin, Joaquin Latee Leal III, prosecutors stated they might drop a homicide cost that carried a 25-years-to-life sentence.
Defense attorneys say they imagine that Harris Jr., and maybe another person, killed Cheek.
Harris Sr. and Leal have pleaded not responsible to homicide expenses within the death-penalty case.
Harris Jr., 45, testified that his father and Leal strangled Cheek within the storage of her Jurupa Valley residence on April 13, 1998, as a result of she was having an affair with Temecula resident Horace Roberts Jr., a co-worker at Quest Diagnostics in San Juan Capistrano.
He stated his father feared she would divorce him and take his dream residence. Harris Jr. stated he heard Cheek gasp for her remaining breath and flail as he regarded away.
“It appeared prefer it was ceaselessly” but it surely lasted only some minutes, he testified.
Harris Jr. stated Cheek’s physique was loaded into Roberts’ pickup, which she had borrowed that day, and he drove her to Lee Lake, with Leal driving behind. Harris Jr. stated they positioned her physique on rocks and that Leal drove the pickup a couple of mile on the 15 Freeway, the place they deserted it.
Roberts was convicted of homicide. He served 20 years in jail earlier than new DNA know-how exonerated him and pointed authorities towards the Harrises and Leal. Riverside County paid Roberts, now 66, $11 million to settle a wrongful-conviction lawsuit.
Harris Jr., after being held on $1 million bail, was launched after agreeing to testify for the prosecution. He has not been sentenced but.
“Did you need justice?” requested Morreale, one of many protection legal professionals.
“Yes,” Harris Jr. stated.
“Did you need justice when Horace Roberts was sentenced to fifteen years to life?” Morreale continued.
The prosecution raised an objection, so Harris Jr. didn’t should reply.
Harris Jr. additionally stated that on the time he had no regret for serving to his father set up an alibi, however he does now.
Exum, one other protection lawyer, addressing the plea cut price, advised Harris, “You decided that your life was extra essential than your father’s.”
“The story just isn’t of me committing the homicide,” Harris Jr. stated. “It’s me being there.”
The protection attorneys stated they imagine Harris Jr. had a motive to kill: Cheek found him, as a 16-year-old, bare and sexually assaulting his bare 7-year-old stepsister. Cheek ordered him to go away their residence and transfer in with relations in Compton.
Exum tried to elicit testimony from Harris Jr. that he was bitter towards Cheek. But Harris Jr. stated he truly was glad to go away Rubidoux High for Compton High as a result of he had extra buddies there.
Defense attorneys confirmed a photograph of Cheek’s physique on rocks on the lake. Her prime was lacking, and her sports activities bra was pushed up. Harris Jr. testified this week that her prime was nonetheless on once they left her.
Exum theorized that after parking the pickup alongside the 15 Freeway, Harris Jr. walked again and assaulted her. He denied that.
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