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Jury rejects first-degree murder for mother who killed 3 sons
More articles on this topic: Lashuan HarrisShe threw her boys off Pier 7 into the bay in October ‘05
A San Francisco jury rejected first-degree murder charges Tuesday against an Oakland woman accused of throwing her three sons into the bay, settling on child assault charges as it continues to deliberate on second-degree murder in the killings.
The apparent compromise verdict means that LaShuan Harris, 24, faces a sentence of at least 25 years to life for throwing her boys — Trayshawn Harris, 6, Taronta Greely Jr., 2, and Joshua Greely, 16 months — over the railing on Pier 7 and into San Francisco Bay on Oct. 19, 2005.
After deliberating seven days, the panel first returned the verdicts on three counts of assault on a child causing death. It then rejected first-degree murder in the emotional case. A finding of first-degree murder would require a determination that the killings were premeditated and would result in a sentence of life in prison without parole for multiple murder.
The lesser offense, second-degree murder, now being deliberated by the jury, carries a penalty of 15 years to life.
The jury has indicated that it is far from deciding that issue, but told Judge Kay Tsenin late Tuesday it is not hopelessly deadlocked. The panel will resume deliberations today.
When the jury of seven men and five women completes its deliberations on the criminal charges, the same panel will hear a second phase of the trial to determine whether Harris was legally sane at the time her sons were killed.
If she is institutionalized for mental treatment, she could not be released unless she proved to a court that she is sane.
In the trial, Teresa Caffese, Harris’ attorney, cited a court-appointed doctor’s evaluation as well as her own expert doctor in arguing that Harris was not truly aware that she was taking their lives when she threw her children into the water.
Caffese had argued during the guilt phase that the jury should acquit Harris of murder and assault, saying Harris was not able to form the intent to kill.
Prosecutor Linda Allen conceded that Harris believed God had told her to kill the boys. But “she chose to kill her own children,” Allen said. “She knew she had to kill them to get them to heaven — that is murder.”
She told the jurors that it would be natural for them to have sympathy for Harris, a homeless, mentally ill single mother and victim of domestic violence. “I don’t expect you to have a cold heart, but I expect you to have a rational mind,” she said.
Caffese argued that Harris, who had worked as a certified nursing assistant, was a good mother who kept her children well-clothed and fed and who “didn’t have a mean bone in her body.’”
But Harris struggled with “disease lurking within her,” Caffese said. That illness surfaced in 2002, when family members saw her arguing with people who were not there, exhibiting unprompted outbursts of laughter and acting out a second personality.
Harris was first hospitalized in Feb. 19, 2004, while pregnant with her third son. She talked about “giving her babies to Jesus,” Caffese said. She was released without continuing mental care, Caffese said, and soon started to smell dead bodies and hear voices.
After her client was acquitted of first-degree murder, Caffese made a brief statement outside court. “It’s difficult,” she said. “She’s mentally ill. If your mind betrayed you, what would you want, prison or help?”
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