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Harris v. State1/7/2004
is testified that on August 31, 1999,Appellant called her at the transmission shop and told her he was coming tokill her. A witness observed Appellantdriving by the shop later that day.
On the morning of September 1, 1999, Appellant called Mrs.Harris's workplace several times, sometimes demanding to talk to her, othertimes hanging up unless she answered the phone.Appellant demanded that she give him access to a storage unit containingpersonal property he claimed was his.Mrs. Harris told him to call her lawyer.During these repeated calls, Appellant asked his wife if she "wanted tolive to see another day"; said "You tell Merle I'll get him"; and told hiswife, "You just wait." A short timeafter the telephone calls, Appellant drove his van to the transmission shop,walked in, and demanded to see Mrs. Harris, who was in the break room with Taylor's daughter-in-law, Jessica. Merle Taylor steppedbetween Appellant and Mrs. Harris and calmly asked Appellant to leave. Appellant then pulled the revolver out of hispants, raised it up, pushed Taylor to theground, lowered the gun, and shot Taylor twice atclose range. Taylor died atthe scene. Appellant then chased andshot at Mrs. Harris with the bullets remaining in the six-shot firearm. One bullet hit her hip and traveled throughinternal organs to her sternum. When thegun would no longer fire, Appellant pistol-whipped his wife repeatedly in the head. Appellant apparently tried to reload the gun,because the spent shells had been manually removed and left on the shop floor,along with extra bullets that Appellant had brought. Appellant then fled the scene, disposed ofthe gun, abandoned his van, and hid in a friend's garage where police found himthe next day.
In addition to the testimony of Pam Harrisand numerous co-workers who witnessed the shootings, the State presentedevidence that Appellant had been physically and verbally abusive to his wifethroughout their twenty-year relationship.In his defense, Appellant presented evidence that a combination of lowintelligence, mental illness, and substance abuse prevented him, at the time ofthe shootings, from being able to form a specific intent to kill either PamHarris or Merle Taylor. Appellanthimself testified in the guilt phase of the trial. He and other witnesses presented testimonyabout his chronic use of marijuana, his occasional recreational use of Valium,and his depression and intoxication on beer and drugs in the two weeks betweenhis wife leaving him and his taking a loaded firearm to the transmissionshop. Appellant claimed that on themorning of the shootings, he had ingested approximately five beers and four orfive tablets of Valium. Appellant alsopresented expert testimony about his general psychological makeup, includingrelatively low I.Q. scores and possible bipolar disorder. In rebuttal, the State presented its ownexpert psychological testimony about Appellant's personality disorders,essentially concluding that Appellant exhibited some psychopathic tendenciesand appeared to be feigning mental and emotional problems since his arrest.
During the capital punishment phase of thetrial, after incorporating all of the guilt-phase evidence, the State presentedevidence that Appellant had resisted a prior arrest and that he had assaulted ajailer while awaiting trial in this case.The State also presented victim-impact testimony from Merle Taylor'swidow and one of his sons. Besidestestimony from Appellant's family, pleading that his life be spared, thedefense presented evidence about Appellant's poor home environment as a child,certain experiences in his past that traumatized him, and evidence that hismental illness could be adequately controlled in prison. Additional facts will be presented asrelevant
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