Our criminal laws are absurd. It was almost as if Robert Harris knew this time that he was going to die, said San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Lorie Hearn, one of 18 media witnesses to the execution. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. ". As Rabindranath Tagore said, If everyone cleaned up his own back yard, the whole world would be clean.. We have only begun questioning our fascination with car chases, gun battles, and violent crime on television and in the movies. He and his older brother Kenneth decided to show a neighbor, James Wheeler, how to fight. Human murderers dont get off the hook because we can punish them. They dropped by their fathers home. What does this metaphysical perspective have to do with the politics of capital punishment and our vengeful incarceration of criminals? Letting the victim sentence the criminal, within guidelines of course, would personalize the concept of justice, empower the victim, and (if he werent executed) allow the offender to make amends by producing wealth instead of draining it. The adult Robert Alton Harris lost his right to live. [2] During his time at the juvenile detention centre, Harris was repeatedly raped. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A person with mature faith can live a full life under any circumstances, as David Magriss transformation shows. He said it was too soon to know whether witnessing Harris death closed a horrible chapter in his life. The minute I saw him, I had a real sick feeling, sister Barbara recalled of the picnic, in an interview two years ago. Three others--Mississippi, Missouri and North Carolina--give the choice of gas or lethal injection. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? If we can't execute Harris, we won't be able to execute anyone.". But the most effective political stance against capital punishment will be firmly grounded in an ongoing process of self-forgiveness. His mother died in 1981 of cancer. In asking for a stay of Tuesdays 12:01 a.m. execution, the defense charged that prosecutors withheld evidence about Daniel that may have helped save Robert Harris from a death sentence at the 1979 trial. His date with the gas chamber is set for Tuesday morning at one minute past midnight Pacific time. Arrested on a drug charge, he managed to avoid additional prosecution for running a burglary ring only because there was insufficient evidence to convict him. Who would call a man sane who casually kills two teenagers for their car, and then finishes their lunch before going about his criminal business? But around age ten Magris learned that the man in the photographs around his house was his biological father a bad man, he was told, who was in prison for murder, a Mafioso whose brothers and sisters were pimps and whores. WebTwo suspects, Robert Alton Harris and his brother, Daniel Harris, were arrested a short time later and questioned by police. Any concept of punishment involves the projection of blame, and reinforces the idea that blame is justified. Vasquez had planned to provide a prison chaplain for Harris, but opposed allowing the prisoners second cousin into the prison on the night of the execution, saying that it might lead to a desperate act to free Harris or interfere with the execution. Taught from the womb onward that the world runs on senseless violence, Harris behaved with a chronic viciousness that clearly suggested he was incapable of making sensible choices. He was officially pronounced dead at 6:21 a.m. But as long as society is unwilling to liberate itself from that same belief, it will continue to have a chaotic correctional system that does little more than warehouse and further degrade societys most dangerous members. The whole thing had a dreamlike quality to it, beginning with the eerie illumination of the chamber itself, literally with life or death hanging by a thread.. An hour later, the Harris brothers robbed the local bank of $2000 but were arrested shortly after. In these cases we think it just that we suffer reasonable consequences and then be allowed to earn another chance. But Harris was a force of our nature, human nature, which can perhaps be changed by looking deeply at how our beliefs create our behavior. The only true way to get clean and clear, to be of good conscience and right with God, is to deal with the issues as they really are: loss and an incredible amount of pain. Our primal human nature will always scream out to fight or flee in response to attack, but we have the conscience to choose thoughtfully how well respond, whether with exquisitely planned, torturous vengeance, or with prayer and forgiveness, or with something else altogether. And it just opens up all the wounds, and we hope maybe, just maybe, the judicial system is going to prevail. "There were all these things he was just starting to enjoy. Convinced that Robert was conceived in an affair, Sgt. Pete Wilson (R) denied Harris's petition for clemency. These responses embody the spiritual values presumably endorsed by a nation with a Christian majority, yet we do not endorse them. 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. Ive seen guys with so many holes in them you couldnt count them. He was convicted of the kidnap, robbery and murder of two teenage boys in July 1978 and was sentenced to death on 6 March 1979. Fear will run rampant in your mind if you allow it, and when it does, it becomes bigger than life. It is completely savage and completely insane. When they returned home, Michael said goodnight and went to bed. To die at the hands of someone who hates you is worlds apart from a death (at any age) preceded by an acceptance of your own circumstances of ill health, surrounded by family and friends. But when they do choose abortion, with a conscience full of prayer, the very act of their spiritual struggle is a lifting up of the human spirit for all of humanity. One of the officers who apprehended the Harris brothers was Steven Baker, father of victim Michael Baker, who at the time was unaware that his son had been killed, let alone by one of the men he was arresting. WebOn July 5, 1978, Robert Alton Harris ("Harris") and his brother Daniel kidnapped two 16-year-old boys from a Jack-in the-Box parking lot in Mira Mesa, California.22 The Alton was born on March 13, 1937 in Ranger to John Marion Harris and Audie (Gailey) Harris. We know we must still work for such a life and that we may not obtain it owing to our own failures, misfortunes, and sins. What made David Magris different from Robert Alton Harris and other career criminals? The nine Supreme Court justices stayed up all night, Lungren said, acting on the stays issued by the federal appellate court for Harris. Harris his brother and Wheeler were at a residence at 1780 Rio Vista in Seeley on April 12, 1975, when a dispute erupted. Howard I. Friedman criticized Wilson for ignoring scientific evidence that Harris suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. At 6:22 p.m. yesterday, he was moved to a death-watch cell about 15 feet from the gas chamber. The wackos who commit torturous murders are not equal to other human lives. In December, 1964, the elder Harris got drunk and became unusually abusive. What would his wife be like?' Released at age nineteen, he moved near his father to Chula Vista, California, where he found work as a welder, married, and fathered a son. Robert stole a car and was arrested in Florida, winding up as a ward of federal reformatories for the next four years. Wanting to get even is only natural, we tell ourselves. ", After hearing that Wilson denied Harris's petition for clemency, Sharron Mankins told reporters, "This is just what we were waiting to hear.". After crossing the chasm that forever separated them from the social contract, they found some kind of freedom outside the realm of conscience, outside the realm of society. That policy would surely stop all the killing, wouldnt it? On the morning of April 21, Clark was deeply moved by Harriss last-minute apology to Steve Baker. Robert Alton Harris was gassed to death at sunrise on April 21, 1992, the first person to be executed by the state of California in twenty-five years. WebMurderer Robert Alton Harris is executed in the California gas chamber. Open your mind to change, and there will be no ancient penalty exacted from your brother or yourself. Forgiveness is often mistaken for the passive acceptance of wrongdoing and the denial of anger. The innocent release in gratitude for their release. The revelation hit him like a bullet. He also discovered an artistic means of self-expression early in life, so he knew there existed a better channel for his energies than the repetition of the punishments doled out to him. Robert Harris had other crimes on his mind. For instance, why dont we use taxpayer money for programs to prevent children from being tormented by their parents, just as the young Robert Alton Harris was, rather than putting the money into extended stays of execution and the board and care of multiple murderers? 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Most of us love life enough not to wreak death indiscriminately upon others every time we are ourselves faced with our mortality (or deprivation or suffering, which are often experienced as equally threatening). In an extraordinary move, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor ruled that no further delays of Harris execution would be allowed unless ordered by the Supreme Court. He found work as a welder, married and fathered a son. This course, says the introduction, can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: Nothing real can be threatened. Miller also assumes there is something inherently wrong with anger and vengeance. We will try our best to teach you peace, and by learning it, you will teach us as well.. Robert's first The choices we may make as individuals are not necessarily the choices that society should make, considering the greater good. I invite responses at 103 N. Hwy 101, #1022, Encinitas, CA 92024. People like Miller can teach and write only so long as the state has the power to crush thugs. He claimed that hed only watched others do it. Former San Diego Police Chief Bill Kolender, who watched Harris die, said the execution sent a message that killers will face justice. The real world is the state of mind in which the only purpose of the world is seen to be forgiveness. Do we need more variations on the Christian pie-in-the-sky viewpoint? . Roberts mother called for police. Staff writers David Hasemyer, Jim OConnell, Dana Wilkie and Dori Meinert of Copley News Service contributed to this story. Nothing about this identity should be forgiven; it should die. And what they see upholds their freedom from imprisonment and death. Our tax dollars can help care for neglected children and rehabilitate criminals, but we should not forget that the government cannot do it alone; it requires the commitment and responsibility of the people involved. Maybe to God no one is a hopeless case. Her ruling was overturned, but the videotape is to be used as evidence in the class-action case. Kroll said Harris was not surprised by Wilsons denial of clemency, but continued to talk about the future, as if he held out hope that a court would grant an Easter weekend reprieve. The defendant brutally murdered the boys, and then stole their car. Chief among my concerns, of course, is the damage your decision may do to the publics understanding of fetal alcohol syndrome.. But by denying them justice, we affect our own access to it. They were having slap fights and were still fighting at 9 p.m. We could be giving people back their dignity, respect, self-esteem, and confidence., Magris suggests our scattered and minimal efforts toward such resocialization of prisoners stem from political reinforcement of ignorance about the realities of our criminal justice system. Even then I knew her advice was bad. The Harris Since the body is always vulnerable to damage and destruction, our lives are constricted by our perpetual service to fear, self-defense, and vengeance. If you did not believe that you deserved attack, it never would occur to you to give attack to anyone at all. . On July 2, Daniel stole The first hitch in the states plans for execution had come last night when a 9th Circuit judge delayed the execution based on late claims by Harris lawyers that they had new evidence that Harris younger brother, Daniel, had fired the first of eight shots that killed Baker and Mayeski. Does that timidity make us sane? "We just felt like we were totally deserted. Barbara enrolled him in the eighth grade but, after a day, the school kicked him out. Turn them into Christians? He mouthed the words, looking me square in the eye: `Im sorry. I nodded my head at him.. The power of the mad lessons he learned was such that Harris was doomed to commit violence again and again. D. Patrick Miller too often sounds like a true believer when he applies A Course in Miracles to the body politic. They gave him $50 pocket money and a bus ticket to Chula Vista, where his father lived. Last month, the Supreme Court rejected another appeal by Harris's lawyers, declining to review claims that he suffers from mental problems. For the simple fact that we cannot: God seems unreachable, unpunishable, the ultimate, invulnerable Boss in an unassailable Heaven. In response, Harris attorneys filed a new lawsuit raising the same issues in a federal court in San Diego. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Then something changed, 7 hospitalized after driver in stolen car runs red light in San Bernardino, police say, Barstow police investigating after officer caught on video hitting man with a baton, Northern California town on edge after second fatal stabbing in a week, Man found guilty of murdering teens who ding-dong-ditched his house, Sacramento, San Francisco mayors take shots at each others city before NBA playoff game. So lets leave the spiritual growth of forgiveness to the individuals private conscience, and lets come together as a society that has to find practical and ethical solutions to crime and punishment. The Harris brothers were arrested less than an hour after the robbery. Nor does the birth of an unwanted, soon-to-be-abused baby. Mankins, 48, remains haunted by a vision of her son's death and unable, she said, to carry on with her life until "justice is served and Harris is executed.". It is not a choice an entire society can make. Harris was bound in handcuffs and a waist chain. Even the most pacifist among us may be disquieted to realize how deeply the belief in vengeance is rooted. David Magris took responsibility for his actions and regained his right to live. One makes choices. I want them dead. At 52, she recalled that when her mother hit the whiskey, she would get wild and vicious. All rights reserved. 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. Robert Harris told the boys that they would be using the vehicle to rob a bank, but that no one would be hurt. Three officers then strapped Harris into the chair and bound his feet and chest. Through the windows of the soundproof chamber, many of the forty-eight witnesses to the execution saw Harris mouth the words, Im sorry. Baker nodded his head sharply in acceptance of the apology. He said he had never before seen the extraordinary legal action taken by the U.S. Supreme Court in Harris case. To forgive and try to save a killer like Robert Alton Harris does not mean excusing his crimes, but recognizing them more clearly as evidence of the ceaseless cycle of vengeance by which we all live. A lot of misery would have been averted if the Nazi war criminals had been shot before they ever got power. We are given the task on this earth of making choices between greater and lesser evils. Wilson would have no comment or statement about the execution, a spokesman said, though earlier in the evening the governor had promised he would not be making any phone calls seeking to commute the sentence.. Robert Harris spent the next four years as a ward of federal reformatories. The Supreme Court of the United States reimposed Harris' death sentence in Pulley v. Harris (1984), reversing the Ninth Circuit by a vote of 72. The brothers ordered the teens to drive to a lake, then forced them to kneel. They met in a small conference room and were monitored by three officers. The brothers then used the car as their getaway car when they robbed a bank in San Diego. . Giving up the death penalty for good would mean challenging some of our most personal, most firmly embedded beliefs, as well as our social policies. To imagine that Robert Alton Harris dispensed an incomprehensible mercy to his young victims would seem to us the height of lunacy; yet the death he dealt was surely no worse than that suffered by a child with a terminal wasting disease. Where is the criminals accountability in all of this? After some joking and laughter, and a promise no harm would come to them, he told them to start walking. Five years after Michael's murder, tragedy struck the family again when Tammy Baker, Steve and Sharron's daughter, was thrown from the back of a motorcycle and killed the night before her 18th birthday. As the old saying goes, life itself is a fatal disease. We are horrified by the lengths to which people like Harris pursue vengeance, but not to the point of surrendering our own belief in vengeance entirely. He wanted their car for the getaway from the bank robbery. That is, we have this five-million-year-old instinct to resist predators, but Helen Schucman, author of the Course, got a message from Jesus, or whomever, that its no good and we should throw it out. Yet what is poignantly missing and systematically suppressed in our society is the voice of our conscience when we face the choice of killing or not killing. All lives are not equal; neither are all deaths. At the political level, teaching peace means opposing the death penalty and promoting the sort of resocialization programs that David Magris suggests for our prisons: these would decrease human suffering, save money, and provide a truly sensible route to the lessening of crime and violence in our society. But 95 percent of everybody we lock up is going to come home someday, rehabilitated or not.. The ego and body were created, says the Course, when we decided to separate from God or, rather, when we mistakenly decided to believe we had separated from God, which the Course asserts is impossible. He might as well have been a brute force of nature, like a tornado. Michael would have turned 30 this year, and only in the last year has his mother found the emotional strength to talk with reporters about him, she said. In their most surprising legal bid, defense lawyers presented what they called new proof that Daniel Harris, a younger brother of the condemned man, may also have shot one of the two San Diego teen-agers whom Robert Harris was convicted of murdering. "It's frustrating," Sharron Mankins said. In May, 1967, Evelyn Harris and six of her children moved into a small apartment in Sacramento, living on welfare. [7] In 1975 while living in a trailer park in Imperial County,[2] Harris beat his brother Kens roommate, James 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. He would not have defended it with such exasperation had he not been moved to question it. spiritual way, and tell him I could forgive him because he was giving his life like that, accepting it like a man., When Harriss head rolled down to his chest, Clark reported feeling this rush of being at peace with myself. We resign ourselves to the random destruction wrought by tornadoes because we cant change nature. Fistfighting led to Robert dousing the man with lighter fluid and setting him on fire; Wheeler died. Harris had a criminal record from a young age and was convicted and sentenced to death on March 6, 1979, after being charged with murder, auto theft, kidnapping, burglary, and bank robbery. Lungren said he originally planned to witness the execution and was present in the gas-chamber viewing area when Harris was strapped in for the first, aborted execution attempt. Even if we conclude that he knew better and was capable of not making such a horrendous decision, the fact remains that he did this insane thing for no discernible reason other than the compulsion of his own horrific past. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ To prosecutors and the families of his victims, Robert Alton Harris is a vicious murderer who laughed about killing two teen-agers and told one to ''quit crying and die like a man.'' For this reason alone, not for vengeance or punishment, the death penalty will continue to be demanded until prison reforms have been so perfected that a criminal is no longer dangerous once his sentence is served. In sum, God and nature get off the hook for apparently committing murders because we have no way of punishing either of them. Youve been hurt or no longer have someone you loved, so you feel robbed, cheated, and abandoned, and that makes you angry and afraid. But I am very closely involved in this case, and I feel I should be given the same courtesy. For his last meal, he requested and was given a 21-piece bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, two large Domino's pizzas, a bag of jelly beans, a six-pack of Pepsi, and a pack of Camel cigarettes. Sharron Mankins, Baker and Herring plan to attend the execution as official witnesses and have expressed a need to know firsthand that Harris has been punished. There is no glee here, Lungren said at a press conference following Harris execution. You do somebody wrong in prison and theyre gonna do you the ultimate wrong. In such an environment, Magriss turnabout must necessarily be seen as an exception to the rule, if not an outright miracle. ", "Mother Teresa is telling the governor to pray for these men {on Death Row} and make the right decision by granting clemency," Mankins said. It never has. Give them lobotomies? When an innocent child is slowly destroyed by leukemia, we struggle to understand Gods incomprehensible mercy; but we surely do not attempt the same expansive attitude with mortal killers in our midst. He said he decided he would be more useful by a phone outside the chamber after the first execution attempt was abruptly stopped. But wait a minute the law says youre crazy only if you dont know any better than to kill. Can we afford that write-off? [4] In 1967, Evelyn abandoned Robert, then 14, in Sacramento and left him to fend for himself. A flurry of legal appeals kept delaying what became the states first execution in 25 years. He knew vaguely that his biological father was a bad person--his mother had told him so. Over the last 13 years, Daniel Harris has made a variety of conflicting statements about his brother and the slayings of John Mayeski and Michael Baker, both 16, who were found dead in a remote San Diego wash. With time now their most fearsome enemy, lawyers for condemned killer Robert Alton Harris pressed last-ditch appeals in several courthouses Friday, searching for a judge who will delay Californias first execution in 25 years. When I got my gun back, we still didnt have enough money, so we went to do another robbery, where I wound up shooting a fellow named Dennis Tapp, who survived, thank God.. But facing and caring for what we have created, in order that we might someday understand and undo our violence, is a great collective assumption of responsibility. Miller also suggests that since violence begets violence, nonviolence must beget nonviolence. And then sitting straight up, looking ahead of him, Harris started breathing quickly and deeply, as if he wanted to get it over quickly and without ugliness, she said. SAN DIEGO -- The last time Sharron Mankins saw her son, Michael Baker, she was piling him and her five other children into the family car for the drive to the local high school where they watched the neighborhood's Fourth of July fireworks in 1978. [8] Robert Harris commandeered Mayeski's car and ordered him to drive to Miramar Lake, with Daniel Harris following in another vehicle. Schizophrenia was diagnosed. At fifteen, Magris stole the dance schools car to run away from home with a fourteen-year-old girl. Nothing much had changed. Outside the prison, foes and advocates of the death penalty used the twin occasions of Good Friday and Passover to argue their respective religious positions. If death is an illusion, then executions are illusions. Prison was like a rebirth. He made his way to Oklahoma, where sister Barbara and brother Randy lived.
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