The French Quarter Stabber: Warren Harris Jr

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
H a wall, straight line, shackle change, Oh someome gird,

(00:25):
it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's
been a tentery juice as the huge stream game Rango
the three.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm here, be.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
By me to die.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hadn't went the girl as I'm.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast
one hundred and forty two years in the making, the
complete story of America's Bloody is present. I'm Jim Chapman,
and today I'm going to bring you the story of
Warren Harris Junior, who was known as the French Quarter Stabber.
So in nineteen seventy seven, headlines were being dominated in

(01:56):
the city of New Orleans after a string of killings
within a twenty mile radius of the popular French Quarter.
All of these killings were brutal stabbing deaths, and all
of them were near strip clubs or jazz parlors in
the area. The victims were all single men, there were
no signs of fourth entry into their homes, and three

(02:17):
of the four known victims were gay. It began on
Valentine's Day, February fourteenth of nineteen seventy seven, when a
forty seven year old man by the name of Robert
Gary was found stabbed to death in his apartment in
the French Quarter in New Orleans. The Orleans Parish Corners
Office performed an anal swab and results were positive for

(02:40):
the presence of sperm, which indicated a sexual assault, so
police they start investigating that. And while that investigation was
going on, just a little over a month later, on
March twenty first of nineteen seventy seven, thirty eight year
old Jack Savelle was found stabbed to death at his apartment.

(03:01):
This was on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, and Jack
worked for the very popular Warlines for Music, which was
a music store in New Orleans that supplied band instruments
as well as they supplied instructors for music. And he
was an advertising rep there. And this guy was really

(03:22):
well known in the area. New Orleans known for its music, right,
so everybody knew this guy as a really good, decent
human being. Now, a neighbor noticed his apartment door open
and found Savelle stabbed to death. He had also been
sexually assaulted, but Jack was not robbed. Both an undisclosed

(03:44):
amount of money and a valuable camera were left untouched
in that home and he was only stabbed once, but
that stab wound was with a twelve inch kitchen knife,
and police were able to determine that this stabbing took
place between midnight and two am, so they're on the

(04:04):
case right And less than two weeks after that incident,
on April first of nineteen seventy seven, fifty nine year
old Alden Delano was found stabbed to death in his apartment.
This was on Rural Street in New Orleans. He was
found around seven thirty am and he was crouched in

(04:24):
a kneeling position on his living room floor. He was
not wearing a shirt nor underwear, and it appeared he
had been sexually assaulted as well. Alden's pockets were turned
inside out and his apartment was ransacked, and he was
also stabbed with a kitchen knife. And when police looked

(04:47):
into Alden's background, they discovered something that kind of shocked them.
Alden also worked for Worleans Music as a piano teacher,
which is the same place that Jack worked. Right stabbings
less than two weeks apart, both killed in the same way.
Police knew they had a problem and that these killings

(05:10):
were likely related, and it was shortly thereafter that another
friend and coworker of both Jack's and Aldens was interviewed
by reporters and he stated that he had been threatened
on the telephone by a man who said quote he
too was marked for death. He quoted the caller saying

(05:31):
Jack was number one, mister Delano was number two, and
you are going to be number three. So now police
they really step up their investigation. But the killer wasn't
going to wait for that. Just a day later, on
April seventh of nineteen seventy seven, a man by the
name of Ernest Pomier was found stabbed to death with

(05:57):
fifty stab wounds at his ground floor apartment on Governor
Nickel Street in New Orleans. And Ernest was a very
well hit elderly man. He was seventy seven years old.
Neighbors would say he would sit on the sidewalk in
front of his apartment in a folding chair and he
would just play with his dog. He was just a

(06:18):
very cheerful person, according to neighbors. His landlord is the
one who found him, and he was also found in
a crouched kneeling position. He had stab wounds in his back,
his neck, his arms, and even his head. And Ernest
as well wore no underwear and his pants were pulled down. Now, surprisingly,

(06:41):
when the corner performed the autopsy, he determined that Ernest
was not sexually assaulted. But outside of that, he fit
the description of all the other killings except for one
distinct thing. Unlike the other victims, Ernest was not gay.
And it really threw police kind of curveball because up

(07:01):
to this point, all of the victims they were finding
that they could tie to one person were homosexuals, and
police were thinking that these were hate crimes. But now
you've got a guy that is straight. He's elderly, so
he's nowhere near the same age as all the other victims,
and yet he's killed as well. It's almost like police

(07:22):
had to go completely back to the drawing board. Now,
by this time, the media had picked this up in
full force. It was on all the papers. This is
before social media, y'all, so it was news reports, newspapers,
that's where you got information. And these killings were everywhere

(07:43):
in South Louisiana being placed on the news and in newspapers,
and it was affecting tourism in New Orleans, which the
mayor wasn't happy about, so he starts pressuring the police, Hey,
we got to find out who's doing this. As a
matter of fact, residents of New Orleans would say they
had never seen the French Quarter so deserted. Now in

(08:08):
the meantime, on April thirteenth of nineteen seventy seven, just
a week after Ernest was killed, a sixteen year old
by the name of Warren Harris Junior was arrested in
front of let's call it, a low rent motel, which
was located about five blocks from the French Quarter. And

(08:28):
when police arrested him, he was attempting to rob and
stab a tourist, and of course he's immediately placed in
the Orleans Parish jail and he's charged with arm robbery
and attempted murder of that tourist. So police interview him
in Warren Harris. During these interviews, it comes out to

(08:48):
believes that he is not a fan of homosexuals. As
a matter of fact, he was described as having a
revulsion to homosexuals, and police started pressing him on if
he knew anything about the French Quarter stabbings, and he
subsequently confesses to four of the murders that had occurred

(09:09):
in the last two months in New Orleans. So before
we go any further, let me tell you a little
bit about the history of Warren Harris Junior. He was
born in New Orleans in nineteen sixty one, and he
was raised by his mother and maternal grandfather, and his
grandfather was a very well respected Baptist minister in New Orleans.

(09:32):
And he had five other siblings, but kind of a
rough childhood. He got in trouble a lot in his
younger days. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade,
and even before the age of sixteen when he was
arrested Minji, he had already been in trouble for per snatching,
petty theft in other crimes. However, in nineteen seventy four,

(09:58):
police caught up to him after he tried to steal
a car, and at the time of this car theft,
he was only thirteen years old and he was incarcerated
in a youth institution in New Orleans for a while
for that crime. So that's a little history on him
prior to this arrus. There's not much more history than
that because he's only sixteen at this point, but he

(10:22):
does indeed confess to these four murders, and he gets
charged in the killing of Robert Gary Jack savall Al
Dea Delano in Ernest Pomier. Now, even at the age
of sixteen, Warren Harris Junior was living on his own
and he was living at the time with a transsexual

(10:43):
and that transsexual came out in papers and she said, no,
he don't hate homosexuals, because if he did, why didn't
he kill me. Now, shortly after he was charged, Harris
appeared for a hearing with a magistrate judge and it's
at that point that the sixteen year old tells the judge,
I can't afford a lawyer. So he gets a court

(11:04):
appointed attorney by the name of John Lawrence to represent him,
and he's ordered to be held without bond, And as
is typical, at his hearing, he pleaded not guilty to
the murder chargers. You're not gonna plead guilty to four murders.
You have nothing to gain by doing that unless you
can work out some sort of deal. At the time,

(11:25):
and the defense attorneys they do what they do. The
first thing, they tried to say he was mentally incompetent,
to stay in trial, which is very typical when confessions
are involved. The problem for Warren Harris Junior's defense team
was he confessed. Of course, they then focused on those confessions,
and incidentally, they were signed by Warren Harris Junior, and

(11:48):
the attorneys tried to say the police interrogated him for
ten to fifteen hours to get those confessions, that they
wouldn't allow his mother to see him or be present
for the confessions, etc. Anything they can do to get
those confessions off the table, but none of that will work.
Then Harris Junior creates a story that he was forced

(12:11):
into signing these confessions under dores. He said that the
police threatened to kill him if he did not sign them.
It was later determined that that was bullshit and the
judge denied the attorney's motion to throw that confession out.
So on May thirty first of nineteen seventy seven, three
psychiatrists who examined Warri's Harris Junior, they tell the judge

(12:35):
that he indeed understands the charges against him, and so
there goes that incompetency defense that they were trying to
mount for Warren Harris Junior. So the trial starts in
October of nineteen seventy seven. In some of the notable
events that took place at the trial, officers said that

(12:55):
Harris made oral statements about all four stabbings and that
that's why they charged him. Harris initially claimed to be
a witness at Delano's death. He said that a man
nicknamed Cliff had done the killings, but the detective testified
when he was pressed for details that Harris just spontaneously

(13:19):
came forth and said Cliff didn't do it. I did it.
That statement was signed by Harris, and in it he
said Delano struck up a conversation with him on the
bus and asked him if he would help in moving
some furniture. Harris then went to his house, and Harris
said he offered me a beer and I took that beer.
I was involved in a sex act with mister Delano,

(13:41):
and he gave me ten dollars and I left. The
statement said Delano invited Harris to return whenever he wanted to,
and Harris said that he returned three times and killed
Delano on that final visit. When quote, he tried to
force me to do something that I did not want
to do. He tried to rape me. Pathologist doctor Paul McGary.

(14:02):
He testified at the trial that he found seventy eight
stab wounds seventy eight when he examined the body of
Ernest Pormier. He testified that the stab wounds were made
by at least two different weapons, one with a thin
blade in the other with a broad blade. Other medical
experts also testified, and they said that two of the

(14:24):
other men were killed with a single stab wound, while
a third was stabbed three times. A witness testified at
the trial of seeing someone run past her the night
of Pormier's death. She said, I saw the flash of
the blade of a knife. It was a very long knife.
It seemed to be a foot to a foot and
a half long. When asked if she saw the person

(14:46):
with the knife in court, she pointed out Warrenhirs Junior
and said he appears to be the same person I
saw run past me. Now, despite the defense objections, oral
and written confessions were red in court. In the confession
to the murder of Delano, Harris said he tried to
rape me. I ran into the kitchen and I got

(15:08):
a knife and I quote jugged him. I thought he
was still alive. So I put a pillow over his head.
Harris claimed in court that Pormier tried to rape him,
and remember Pormier was the only victim, y'all that was
not sexually assaulted. Harris said, he tried to rape me,
and I jugged him. He did the same thing that
Delano did, and I killed him. So the defense continued

(15:31):
to claim that Harris was forced to sign confessions after
hours of intense questioning. Then Harris took the stand in
his own defense and he told the court that he
was threatened by a detective to confess or he would
quote take me off and shoot me in the head
and throw me in the river. Ten policemen were brought
into the court room and lined up, and Harris picked

(15:52):
out the six that made threats to him at that point,
and prosecutors claimed privately that Harris had picked out different
off during an identical lineup during a hearing just a
few months prior. Prosecutors alleged that Harris was a sex
worker who committed the murders after having sex with his victim,
and Harris was convicted of murdering three of the four men.

(16:15):
The state court jury recommended life in prison without the
possibility of parole or probation, and the jury of seven
men and five women deliberated just two hours and twenty
five minutes before convicting Harris of three of the murders.
The assistant DA actually asked for the death penalty, but

(16:35):
the defense attorney, of course recommended life, and he cited
Harris's age and mental records as reasoning for that. Now,
Harris was acquitted of murdering Robert Gary. The jury just
felt there wasn't enough evidence to place Harris at the
scene of that crime. But he was convicted of the
murder of Jack saval Alden Delano and Ernest Pormi. So

(17:01):
on November seventeenth of nineteen seventy seven, Harris was sentenced
to three consecutive life sentences. And remember he's only sixteen
years old. So right out the gate, he goes to
Orleans Parish Prison, and he's not exactly what you'd call
a model prisoner. As a matter of fact, on July

(17:25):
of nineteen seventy nine, Harris gets indicted for some trouble
while in prison. And I'm going to reference a quick
article by the Daily Advertiser, and this was written on
July twentieth of nineteen seventy nine, and it reads a
convicted murderer who prayed on homosexuals has been indicted on

(17:45):
charges of raping another inmate at the Orleans Parish Prison.
Warren Harris Junior, dubbed the French quarter Stabber when he
was sentenced two years ago to three life sentences, is
charged with four counts of aggravated crimes against nation tature
in three counts of aggravated rape. He was seventeen years
old when he was convicted of the killings, including the

(18:07):
murder of an elderly man who was stabbed seventy eight
times with a kitchen knife. Harris and two other inmates
are accused of sexually assaulting a fellow inmate serving a
one year sentence for aggravated battery. Also indicted by Pears
Grand jury were Lionel Hooks, thirty three, and Kevin Dimaningus,
who was twenty so raping a man doing a short

(18:31):
stint in prison after he sentenced to prison tells you
a lot. And Harris eventually makes his way to Bloody
in Gola, and he's a juvenile lifer, And as we've
discussed in the past, the law pertaining to juvenile lifers
changed where if juveniles were sentenced to life in prison

(18:53):
when no parole, they at least got a chance at
parole once that law changed. So in twenty twenty one,
Warren Harris Junior, who's a convicted serial killer by any
definition you can find, he gets resentenced and his resentence
is life with the possibility of parole. Now, this new

(19:17):
law stipulated if you were sentenced to life with no parole,
you had to serve at least twenty five years and
had to earn you ged, and if you had no
major disciplinary actions for at least a year, you would
get your parole. Shot. Doesn't mean you're going to get parole,
but you get a shot at it. And in twenty
twenty three, Harris does earn his ged on his six

(19:41):
attem and at that point in time he had been
disciplined free for seven years. So I'm going to reference
an article for you from CNN. This is dated April
twenty seventh of twenty twenty four, and you're not gonna
believe what you're about to hear. He directed his remar
to the families of the three men he robbed and

(20:03):
fatally stabbed when he was sixteen and high on heroin
in New Orleans. Sitting at a table in the Louisiana
State Penitentiary, Harris, now sixty three, talked in a video
conference about the guilt that has gripped him while serving
life in prison at Angola. Family members of his victims
were not at the April seventeenth hearing. Quote. I have

(20:25):
a few nephews, Harris said during the hearing with the
pearole Board. I have one I constantly pray for, and
I wish to reach him before anything happens to him,
or before he winds up in prison. Not just him,
maybe a few of his friends. You know. It was
an apology forty seven years in the making. The murders
happened during an eight week span from February to April

(20:46):
of nineteen seventy seven. Fear spread in New Orleans that
a serial killer was targeting gay men in the French Quarter,
where officers on horseback were put on patrol around strip
joints and jazz club on Bourbon Street. Quote. It was
a very horrific crime. But I do feel that you've
done all you can do in Angola. That from parole

(21:08):
Board member Curtis Pete Freeman Junior, a former state director
on Probation in Parole, who provided the critical second vote
needed for Harris's release. Harris White tears from behind his glasses.
He's now among the roughly one hundred and twenty one
juvenile lifers to be granted release via a parole hearing

(21:29):
or negotiating resolution with prosecutors since a twenty seventeen law
made them eligible after serving twenty five years. Under the law,
a juvenile lifeer resentenced and offered parole eligibility must obtain
a ged, spend a year without major disciplinary write ups,
and meet other requirements. In twenty twelve, Miller versus Alabama,

(21:50):
the High Court ruled life sentences for juvenile offenders without
the possibility of parole violated the Eighth Amendments ban on
cruel and unusual punishment. The court relied on research showing
that young people are scientifically different from adults, their brains
and self control not fully developed. In Montgomery versus Louisiana

(22:11):
in twenty sixteen, the Supreme Court made the Miller decision retroactive.
After the Montgomery decision. In twenty sixteen, some two hundred
and ninety seven Louisiana prisoners were eligible for resentencing. According
to Hannah van Decar, deputy Legal director of the Louisiana
Center for Childer's Rights, about one hundred and fifty of

(22:32):
them are still incarcerated. At least eighteen of the two
hundred and ninety seven died behind bars before the hearings.
Van Decor said. The United States is the only nation
that sentence people to life without parole for crimes committed
before eighteen, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that
studies inequities in the criminal justice system. Harris was a

(22:53):
teenager when police arrested him in a motel room after
receiving a tip. He was indicted on four counts of
first degree murder in nineteen seventy seven. According to a
summary of the nineteen eighty appeal of his eventual conviction
on three of the counts, the victims lived alone within
a seven or eight block stretch of the French Quarter.
Harris met them on bus or on the streets. The

(23:16):
State Supreme Court upheld his conviction, ruling in part that
Harris's confessions, which he said were made under duress after
officers threatened him, were freely involuntarily made. At the April
parole hearing, board member Steve Prater, a former Shreeport police
officer and Caddo Pears sheriff, told Harris's crime seemed quote

(23:37):
almost like a serial killer unquote very astute Cato Paars sheriff.
With my background, that's what it sounds like. So what
was the mo of this serial killer? Prater asked, before
voting to keep Harris in prison.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
Quote.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
I was in need of money to support that drug
the drugs I was using at the time, said Harris,
a sheaf of papers on the table in front of
I was becoming affiliated with some of the victims and
was asked to accompany them to their home. And at
the time when we entered the home, I robbed and
killed those men and I regret it. I am so
sorry every day. Parole board member Jerry Lddeaux, who voted

(24:15):
in favor of parole, told Harris that before her decisions,
she often asked herself, would I be afraid to live
next door to this person? I believe you're ready for
the streets, she said, and that blew my freaking mind.
You wouldn't be afraid to live next to a serial killer?
Miss Ludeaux. At one point, she asked, I want to
hear in your own words, mister Harris, why should we
consider letting you out? And he said, quote, I have

(24:38):
rehabilitated myself. God has allowed me to reevaluate my wife
and set out on a positive course. He said he
stopped being around negative individuals in prison. At Angola, Harris
has become a prison trustee inmates, entrusted with certain jobs
and responsibilities, and has not been written up for discipline
since twenty seventeen. He learned landscaping and other trades, earned

(25:02):
his ged and completed substance abuse courses. He is a
member of a gospel band as well as the Pure
Heart Messengers singing group. According to testimony at the hearing,
and it just goes on to discuss some other things
that were said at the parole hearing that you absolutely
got to hear. And I actually have that parole board

(25:24):
hearing that I'm going to play for you. But there
you have it. In April of last year, a legit
serial killer was parolled from Louisiana State Penitentiary to Angola.
Now my thoughts, honestly, I was shocked. This wasn't one
of those situations where this guy lost his shit on

(25:46):
PCP killed someone and it was totally out of character
for this guy. It occurred when you know the persons
fifteen or sixteen, and it was a one off. And
not that any of that is good, and not that
those be don't deserve to stay in prison, but you're
talking about a guy that killed at least three people,

(26:08):
likely four, possibly more via stabbing them to death, which
is a brutal and emotion filled type of killing. So
it goes to jail for it, and while in prison,
rapes another inmate and catches yet another charge. I don't

(26:28):
know what eventually happened with that charge, but he was
sure charged with it. It's just insane for me to
think he gets out of prison ever, just my opinion.
Now peris parole conditions. He's going to remain under supervision
for the rest of his life, meaning he'll have a
parole officer he has to report to. But this one

(26:50):
boggles my mind. So what were they thinking? Well, I
want to be fair here, so in this clip you're
gonna here from both Warren Hairs Junior as well as
the parole board. And here it is in full that
parole board where Warren Hairs Junior was released from present

(27:14):
mit tires.

Speaker 6 (27:14):
I'm gonna read some information for the record. Please stop
and correct me if you think anything is wrong. Okay, sir, yes, okay.
First off, you've said your name and your DOC number.
You are serving a life sentence on three murders. You
were sentenced in nineteen seventy seven to life sentence and

(27:42):
at the time I think you were sixteen year oo. Yes, sir,
I was okay, all right, Your case today has been
signed to miss Le Duke. Please answer any records that
she may have will questions, ma'am.

Speaker 7 (28:02):
Mister Harris. I don't know that I've seen anyone as
diligent to try to get their GED as you have been.
How many times have you taken the GED class the.

Speaker 6 (28:13):
Testing, ma'am?

Speaker 5 (28:16):
It has been maybe three or four times.

Speaker 7 (28:20):
Yeah, and you worked hard to get that. You just
received that last.

Speaker 5 (28:23):
Year, yes, ma'am.

Speaker 7 (28:28):
So, mister Harris, you were a juvenile lifer and were
you resentenced or were you just given parole? Do you
have to go back to court to be resentenced?

Speaker 5 (28:42):
I was recentenced, just ma'am.

Speaker 7 (28:44):
And in what year was that?

Speaker 8 (28:51):
I believe in twenty two ma'am, I'm not certain. You
may have speak of my attorney concerning that.

Speaker 7 (28:59):
I would like to, Yes, ma'am, would you affirm what
they as were sentenced.

Speaker 9 (29:04):
Twenty twenty one? I relieved it was in.

Speaker 7 (29:08):
That's okay, just the year's fine, twenty one. That's the
reason I'm asking that question is because although you've had
one hundred and twenty eight write.

Speaker 5 (29:19):
Ups, yes, ma'am, it's.

Speaker 7 (29:21):
When occurred in seventeen. Yes, ma'am, it was four years
before you knew you had an opportunity maybe to get out.

Speaker 5 (29:30):
Is that correct, yes, ma'am.

Speaker 7 (29:33):
So what happened? What flipped the switch in seventeen? Finally,
why did you stop having problems in prison in twenty seventeen?

Speaker 5 (29:44):
I stopped.

Speaker 8 (29:44):
I stopped being around negative individuals now and allowed myself
to only affiliate with positive individuals who were doing positive things.
I engaged in my fellowship regularly. That took up most
of my time.

Speaker 7 (30:06):
Well, I note that you did get involved in faith
based activities around.

Speaker 5 (30:15):
That time, yes, ma'am. I have you.

Speaker 7 (30:19):
Started engaging in a lot of the opportunities in that
particular subculture of the prison, the faith community.

Speaker 8 (30:30):
That's, ma'am. I come from Christian background. My family has
always been spiritual believers, and I continue, well, are.

Speaker 7 (30:46):
You restarted, because it looks like you weren't in the
right track for many years there.

Speaker 5 (30:52):
I was not. No, I was not, ma'am.

Speaker 7 (30:56):
I read the background of the case itself be heinous crime.

Speaker 5 (31:04):
Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 8 (31:08):
I take full responsibility now, I really do, and I
regret that that had ever happened.

Speaker 7 (31:22):
So you have taken victim awareness, yes, ma'am, I have.
I want to hear in your own words, mister Harris,
why should we consider letting you out.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
I have.

Speaker 8 (31:43):
Rehabilitated myself. God has allowed me to re evaluate my
life and set out on a positive course. That positive
course had led me to obtain several certificates and healthcare
provider uh. I'm skilled in landscaping as various other UH trades, janitorial,

(32:10):
uh HU and uh at present. I am an academic
genius the literacy too, and I feel that I will
be able to contribute to society in which the community
I will live given the opportunity.

Speaker 7 (32:33):
Were you personally aware of any of your victims or
where these chants happening?

Speaker 8 (32:38):
Do you know I wasn't I wasn't familiar with any Oh, man,
I was not, uh record.

Speaker 7 (32:53):
It indicates that you haven't had family visits. But I
do see that you have your sister and a niece,
so you've been having pretty often at the ma'am.

Speaker 8 (33:11):
Only only when only when they are able to Uh,
my baby sister whenever she cad she's here. My niece
whenever she's whenever she is available and has the time,
she would come.

Speaker 7 (33:27):
Also, Oh, what is what is your greatest challenge looking
at possible parole? What is? Do you have any concerns
or what is your greatest concern if you get out?

Speaker 4 (33:50):
Ma'am.

Speaker 10 (33:50):
I have.

Speaker 8 (33:53):
A few nephews. I have one that I constantly pray for,
and I wish theresia before it didn't happened to him,
or before he winds up in prison. Not just him,
maybe a few of his friends, you know, I would
like to reach him.

Speaker 11 (34:19):
I may.

Speaker 7 (34:20):
I'm going to reserve the right to come back and
ask more questions later, but at this time, mister Freeman,
I'm gonna run it back up.

Speaker 6 (34:27):
Mister do you have any questions?

Speaker 10 (34:29):
Yes, sir, mister Harris, yes, you planned or you were
found guilty of killing three were those at different times.
Tell me about the time in between.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
The it was different times?

Speaker 10 (34:45):
How long was it between each one? I'm trying to
understand the crime. I don't came back to glory details.

Speaker 8 (34:53):
According to the records, it was from February thirteen, I
believe until April six, I believe.

Speaker 10 (35:03):
Okay, So the length of time of what And there
was a fourth a fourth murder?

Speaker 12 (35:10):
Did you commit that one?

Speaker 13 (35:11):
To you?

Speaker 5 (35:11):
I was proud, not guilty. I was froud, not guilty,
sir okay?

Speaker 12 (35:20):
Did these all take place at the same.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
Place, the same area, within the same area, sir okay.

Speaker 12 (35:31):
And I'm trying to distinguish and and find out.

Speaker 10 (35:40):
It's it sounded almost like a serial killer, Okay. I
mean that's with my background, that's what it sounds like.
So what was the mo of this serial killer?

Speaker 8 (35:54):
I understand, Uh, I was a young juvenile teenage sense
of direction, that high school dropout, swalling, all kinds of
pills and everything you could think of at that time.

Speaker 5 (36:11):
Yeah, And I just sorry it happened.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
Mhm.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
I just wasn't in the right state of mind, sir.

Speaker 12 (36:27):
Yes, I mean, did you did you set this up?
Set these murders up? In order to rob the people.

Speaker 5 (36:34):
It wasn't it was not a set up. It was
not a set up at all.

Speaker 12 (36:39):
Then why would you why didn't you?

Speaker 8 (36:44):
I was in need of money to support that drug
the drugs I was using at the time.

Speaker 10 (36:55):
Uh h.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
I I became affiliated.

Speaker 14 (37:04):
With some of the victims you know, and was asked
to accompany accompany them to their home, and at the time.

Speaker 5 (37:21):
When we entered the home, I robbed and killed those
men and I regret it. I'm so sorry every day.
I regret.

Speaker 12 (37:40):
That's all without here, Thank you, Miss Terris.

Speaker 6 (37:43):
Okay, mister, I have one question. What what have you
done to address your drug problem that you've been in ango.

Speaker 8 (37:52):
I have taken a drug courses living in balance? Uh
still one and two?

Speaker 5 (38:03):
All right?

Speaker 15 (38:04):
Uh you get out, sir? Do you plan on following
up when you if you work, Yes, sir, I will
certainly follow up, and I'm sure mister Myers or I
have some stuff to say about that when he speaks. Okay,
I have no further questions. Uh So now we will

(38:30):
go to the family.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
First. ROBERTA.

Speaker 6 (38:34):
Harris, sister in law. Okay, you want to speak first.
I just wanted you go up after the podium name.

Speaker 7 (38:47):
He had Warren.

Speaker 16 (38:49):
I am his sister in law. I met Warren through
his brother, David. I'm married to David. Met Warren in
seventy six.

Speaker 7 (38:58):
When brother and I.

Speaker 12 (39:01):
When I met Warren, he was this kind and gentle person.

Speaker 16 (39:06):
He stayed right next door to the grandmother, Miss Julia,
and Warren was always kicking care. He looked out for
He made sure she had everything. He made sure his
mother had everything. He made sure his siblings had everything.
But like he's admitted, the drugs that he got over
hold up to, it just did something to his mind

(39:27):
to just make him do things out of the ordinary.
But he was raised in a Christian family. His grandfather
wasn't being a Sai mother saying the choir.

Speaker 12 (39:36):
They were white church on Punde.

Speaker 16 (39:39):
I like to say a month he got out into
the into the streets and the drugs and got a
hold of his minding. His brain dropped out, and then
we just don't know what happened from there, but we
still love it.

Speaker 6 (39:53):
Okay, thank you, ma'am, thank you. Okay, uh mister carry mine.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
Good morning, Kerry Myers with Louisiana Parole Project. This board
already knows mister Harris was sixteen years old, addicted, had
been addicted for some time before he committed these crimes.
We also know that the sixteen year olds and an

(40:22):
addiction can lead to some horrible consequences. We know why
the brain science says that to juveniles are different. But
mister Harris, I think miss Leeduce said it correctly. Seven
years ago. The light completely clicked on before he knew
he was going to be parole eligible, and he rededicated

(40:44):
his life spiritually. He worked very hard on his ged
his programs. Mister Harris is now not a sixteen year
old addicted child. He is a sixty four year old
man who has served forty six years for these crimes.
He has a support system. One of the things that

(41:04):
will happen immediately address any concerns that you may have
about that, mister Freeman, is he will get an evaluation
of substance abuse of and mental health evaluation from our
social work staff and we'll make sure that any recommendations
are followed through that. Not only that after forty six

(41:25):
years at from a sixteen year old now to a
sixty four year old man, he's going to need the
type of services that we can provide that, in essence,
detoxification from the institutionalization that he's been involved in for
the last forty six years. And that's what our program

(41:47):
is absolutely geared to do. Will He will learn technology,
He will in steps, he will learn social norms which
are certainly different from when he entered prison. He will
have the ability to continue to access our social or department.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
He will learn financial management. He is employed, he is
still healthy, he is still employable, he has employment waiting
for him. His sister has offered him housing and has
been supportive throughout this time. We're here to help him
through that for as long as it needs to be

(42:29):
and once he's completed our program, mister Harris has a
has a strong support system. So we would just ask
this board to consider the fact that you know, he
is not the sixteen year old addicted child that committed
these crimes regardless. Uh, it's it's you can't minimize any

(42:50):
of the actions. They were horrific, but this is the
whole capacity to grow and mature is the reason we're
here today. And so we as this boy to consider
all these factors today in making their decision.

Speaker 6 (43:09):
Before I go to the subject and the lawyer wag Kalvu.
Do you have any comments you would like to make, Yes, sir,
good morning.

Speaker 13 (43:19):
Uh, you know you were talking about the history of
Warren Record.

Speaker 12 (43:25):
And yeah, at one time.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
He did have a class I say trustee's status.

Speaker 13 (43:30):
He worked in beautification for us outside the Fences for
eight years, then fifteen lost at on a write up
at that other write up in seventeen he's worked his
way back up to a class A again when he
did back in twenty seventeen, works his way back up
to a men be. His job was a union supply sockware.

(43:52):
Of course in the warehouse he was responsible for a
lot of inventory that was worth a lot of money.

Speaker 17 (44:00):
And those jobs or jobs that we will put inmate
skins that we can trust to the degree of even
with oversight, that they're going to do a good job
for us.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
And he did that.

Speaker 13 (44:14):
Until eighteen when he went into the full time GED
and so I think he was six times in.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
His ge attempts and finally there and now he's a tutor.
So yeah, he definitely in seventeen, as you guys stated,
has done a good job in turning that corner and
maintained his process and give the projections where.

Speaker 17 (44:41):
He is now, so his focus has changed.

Speaker 5 (44:47):
Thank you boy.

Speaker 6 (44:48):
Sure, okay, mister Harris, would you like to make us statement? Yes, sir, ma'am,
this Palmer has spoken pos Catholic. Had his speaker seek, no,
we hadn't. Ms Palmer, would you like to.

Speaker 11 (45:06):
Speak, yes, sir, Thank you so much for this opportunity.

Speaker 5 (45:10):
Yes, ma'am, good morning.

Speaker 11 (45:14):
I'm Warren Harris baby's sister, and we all were disobedient,
so our mother and our grandparents coming up. I was
pregnant at fourteen, I was a grandmother at forty and
throughout the years we all have turned our lives around

(45:41):
and went back to the foundation on which we were
brought up on, and that was the foundation of Jesus Christ.
I have seen Warren grow throughout the years we all
were in prison, those forty seven years with Warren. Like
I said, we were all disobedient as children, and I

(46:04):
got pregnant. I was smoking weed. I was inn abusive
relationship with my children's father. But throughout the years we
stayed connected. I had been going to the prison since
I was four years old. Our father was in jail
since twenty eight. Our mother was abandoned by her first

(46:25):
husband and then abused by our father, which was in
jail for twenty eight years. Then Warren he's been in
there for forty six and out my other brother he's
been back and forth for fifteen years. So we've all
returned back to the foundation on which we were brought
up on. Thank God for that. I've seen Warren mature.

(46:46):
He's helped me throughout the years. I've sent photos when
photos were accepted. I've sent money throughout the years, visits
throughout the years when our mother was living. Now that
she's gone. Now I'm a great grandmother at the age
of sixty. So Warren has been like a father uncle

(47:09):
to my children, my grandchildren, and we lean on each other.
When I go and visit. I don't just go to
visit him, go because I need him. He's been a
support to me with the JEDP and the emails. He
encourages me. He sends me letters and prayers throughout the

(47:31):
and so I'm here to be here for him till
the day God calls us all home. I've seen the
change in all of us, how we've changed our lives
and living the way our parents really intended us to live.
But I think you offer this opportunity, and I think

(47:57):
my parents for raising us up in this faith.

Speaker 18 (48:01):
Based because thirty seven years ago this opportunity was not possible.
But we prayed and asked God to forgive us of
our sins and to have mercy upon us, to pity
us and spare us. And so this day He has

(48:22):
made this day possible. And I thank you for the
hope of it, and I thank you for the joy
and just the confirmation.

Speaker 5 (48:36):
Thank you, bam, appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (48:40):
H Okay, it's uh Florusca.

Speaker 5 (48:47):
You're ready, Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 9 (48:51):
Perhaps you wanted one to speak first.

Speaker 6 (48:53):
Listen, however y'all want to do it. Usually the inmate
speaks first, so it's up to you.

Speaker 7 (49:00):
Is your hairs speak? Curse?

Speaker 6 (49:01):
Okay, mister Harris, your attorning you speak.

Speaker 8 (49:11):
Thank you for allowing me this opportunity this morning I
have I now have the opportunity to address this of
all family, Farmer family.

Speaker 5 (49:22):
And a Dlago family.

Speaker 8 (49:24):
This matter should have been addressed years ago, but because
of matters, concern and contact, I was not able to
do so. To each family members of the victims, I
sincerely apologize for taking the lives of your loved one.

(49:45):
I'm truly sorry and regret what had happened forty six
years ago. Your family has suffered many years missing someone
very special who has been taken away from you. I'm
truly sorrow. During my years of incarceration, guilty finish has

(50:06):
gripped me deeply. My guilt has motivated me to call
out to God, asking for his help for change within myself.
My prayer had been asked. God allowed me to reevaluate
my life and set me out on a positive course.

(50:31):
I become a servant the very given my time and
the very little resources I have, helping those who cannot
help themselves. I continue praying, asking God to give me
the ability and to continue to allow me to be

(50:54):
a positive influence to those around me. I'm truly sorry
and regret the offense I had committed. I apologize to
the community, but these crimes were committed. I'm very sorry

(51:15):
and very remonst I appreciate this opportunity that has been
given me.

Speaker 19 (51:21):
Thank you God, bless you, Thank you well. Now I'm
just lor sca good warnam.

Speaker 9 (51:34):
My name is Abigail Floresca and I'm a student attorney
at Little Low Lack It representing mister Warren Harriss. In
nineteen seventy seven, mister Harris committed devastating for whole crimes,
taking the lives of multiple men and striking fear and
pain throughout the community. As you've heard today, mister Harris

(51:57):
is deep remorseful and a shame to his crimes, and
he's carried that remorse with him every day for forty
six years. Aim these forty six years, he's channeled that
morpse and you're processing the armed you caused and becoming
with mature sixty three year old in the athletist now today,

(52:18):
I know the board is well known of more versus bottomly,
how even children who commit Haines crimes still have the
capacity to change. Mister Harris is truly the mosonification of
that ability to change his life. Shows that our children

(52:38):
are removed from abuse, drugs, violence and dysfunction, they can
become totally different. Sixteen year old one Brianna streets and
didn't follow the molds secret. Sixty three year old mister
Herricks is a trustee and hasn't kind of right up insidens.

(53:00):
Year old Warren did all he could to numb himself
with drugs. Sixty three year old mister Harris finds peace
and joy from singing and gospel vans at the Transformation
Gospel Bands, Pure Heart Messengers. His favorite song to sing
its Winking Inperiens. Sixteen year old Warren sat in his

(53:20):
grandfather's church nodding off eye on Harold. Sixty three year
old mister Harris's earned forty long certificates for by her
studies and its contributions to the industries such as the
leadership fields. Sixteen year old Warren took the lives of
multiple men. Sixty three year old mister Harris takes spherically

(53:44):
eltily and the sick in musts. Sixteen year old Warren
dropped out of the grade and didn't.

Speaker 7 (53:52):
See a future for himself.

Speaker 9 (53:55):
Sixty three year old Winster Harris spent two decades trying
to get its high, and he'd finally earned his plum.
He immediately turned around and became a literacy trigger helped
me others achieve.

Speaker 7 (54:07):
The same thing that he did.

Speaker 9 (54:11):
Mister Harris has earned a trouble of fifty six certificates
for programming and accomplishments. Throughout his stand in prison, he
was dedicated to learning many years before you were past
and what was even impossibility. The Ward has asked about
mister Harris's land for recovery from addition of drugs, given

(54:33):
his history, and mister Harris has recognized that recovery is
a life process and he will always be combat and
it's always seemed to be a part of his life.
But he's willing and ready to draw narcotics, anonymous medians
and any anything else that the Whole Project is also
going to support in with finding those resources. I remmuted

(54:58):
in will packet a list of local narcotics anonymous meetings
in the area where he's going to be with me
should the board rule. Mister Harris has the support of
his family, his friends, and a dual project. As you've heard,

(55:20):
the pro Project is going to help him with the
entry and everything that he's going to be meeting navigating
coming to the Three worlds after forty six years. His
sister Brenda has supported mister Harris's entire time in prison,
visiting him, supporting him, and she's ready to give back

(55:43):
to as well. Mister Harris is also hoping to give
back as a herd, mentoring his nine grand nieces and nephews,
continuing to sing and worship and doing landscape passion he discovery,
while will striving to make the world around the more
beauth The significance of Miller hearings is that children the

(56:03):
extent the majority of their lives in curser, you have
the opportunity to show the change, and in forty six years,
mister Harris has done just that. Today he's a trustee
nan of Faith, literacy tutor and a source of support.

Speaker 5 (56:18):
To those who have astro.

Speaker 9 (56:21):
Savory wrote, he has a part of the people and
a life that reaches those who see to be unreached.
In light of the person that mister Harris is today,
we urged the honorable Board to bring up closer years.

Speaker 5 (56:35):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (56:39):
Okay, well.

Speaker 6 (56:43):
I will vote well, this will do that. You advocation
will vote first.

Speaker 7 (57:00):
Their hair is h You have to understand all of
us take this role very very seriously. And I read
all two hundred pages of your of your file several times,
and I have I have gone back and forth on this.

(57:26):
Hearing you today was very insightful. You have a low
risk assessment on the tools that we are provided with.
You have good plans for your release. You have what

(57:51):
I consider adequate institutional educational accomplishments. I can't change what
you have done, but in taking the lines of those people,
many times I ask myself before I make a vote,
would I live next door to this person? Would I

(58:14):
be afraid to live next door to this person? Mister Harris,
there's still some things in your record that can sern me,
some of the write ups that you've had, especially the
twenty ones. I'll be honest, I twenty one. But at

(58:36):
this point, after thirty seven years of incarceration, I believe
that you're ready for the streets. And so my vote
today is to grant parole with the condition that the
par project tuned in very carefully to your needs for
your giving you the tools to make good dess sessions.

Speaker 19 (59:00):
Okay, so love that is chick aren Okay, thank you,
h mister Pray.

Speaker 12 (59:09):
I've heard some very strong arguments and recommendations today, and
I flawgm with to harents for your growth and the
accomplishments that.

Speaker 10 (59:17):
You've uh that you have accomplished. I think you're truly
repented of what you've done. I think we all have
our mission fields and life. I'm a strong believer in
that I truly believe that your mission field is there

(59:38):
at Angola, at Louisiana State's Penitentiary. And it's similar to
I guess in my mind, it's similar to a person
that might smoke and then develop cancer and then quit smoking.
They still have the cancer. They still have to pay
the price for what they did. And so having said

(59:59):
all of that, and considering the fact that you were
giving three life sentences to write consecutively, my vote is
to deny.

Speaker 6 (01:00:09):
Okay, thank you. Okay. Uh, you know I looked at this,
mister Tyris in a lot of ways. You were sixteen
years old when when this occurred. You own drugs, real bad.

Speaker 9 (01:00:23):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:00:24):
You know that does not make any excuses for what
you did. It was, like you law, you said, it
was a very horrific crime. But uh, I do feel
that you've done all you can do and ain't going
that that that your work is done there. But you
have plenty of work left. Uh So my vote today

(01:00:48):
is also gonna be too grant to the parole project. Okay,
mister Myers, I want him very thoroughly drug treat treatment.
I want I want him to look at that closely
and if he needs impatient treatment you get back with us. Okay,

(01:01:09):
do that. Also, I want you to have drug screens
two times per month for the first six months. Uh
you fell any of those drug dreams, I can promise
you you will be returned. And and that's all the
conditions I'm gonna put on you. I'm gonna let you
off to put the rest. I thank your family for

(01:01:30):
showing up here today, and your representatives have meant a lot.
Like your sister said, y'all need to doll grow together.

Speaker 5 (01:01:38):
Thank you, sir.

Speaker 6 (01:01:40):
World's gonna be watching you. I can promise you so
be careful.

Speaker 5 (01:01:45):
That's my lit.

Speaker 7 (01:01:48):
To say, mister Harris, It's difficult to make these kind
of choices, Okay, and then I appreciate what you do.

Speaker 5 (01:01:56):
I understand. Thank you, ma'am.

Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
Now after hearing that, personally, my opinion hasn't changed. I'm
gonna say it again. Three four victims convicted of at
least three where's the justice for the victims here? And
you heard him say, Hey, I was high on drugs.
I was a drug addict when I committed these murders.

(01:02:20):
I mean, so fucking what that doesn't excuse it or
in my opinion, carrying any weight as to why you
should be released from prison for it. There are millions
of people on this earth that are addicted to drugs
that don't go around killing random, multiple people because of it.

(01:02:41):
It's a bullshit excuse and it totally negates the victims
in my opinion. Could he have changed during those forty
six years in prison, sure, maybe, but that doesn't mean
you should walk the streets. You have to serve the

(01:03:03):
time for your crime. It's just bizarre. They you have it.
Check us out on Patreon for commercial, free, early releases
and more. Patreon dot com slash Bloody and Goal of
podcast and thank you so much for those members for
their support. I couldn't do the show without them, as

(01:03:25):
simple as that. And until next time for Bloody and Goal,
a podcast one and forty two years in the making.
The complete story of America's Bloody is present.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Peace a wall Street line, shackle chain, Oh, who'so gird?

(01:04:05):
It's calling my name? There is no mercy and it's
been a tentery Jesus as the huge string game Rangle three.

Speaker 17 (01:04:22):
I'm here, be.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
By here to die.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
And when the walk.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
As I know, it's aboody angle.

Speaker 9 (01:04:50):
Obody, angle

Speaker 4 (01:05:01):
Down and finding

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The French Quarter Stabber: Warren Harris Jr

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