Ricardo Harris Ricardo Harris, convicted by a jury in the 1999 murders of two Oak Lawn liquor store employees, has received the first death sentence in Cook County, and the third statewide, since for. Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of more than 150 Death Row inmates in 2003. Upon hearing the guilty verdict, Harris declined to appear in the courtroom for the sentencing proceedings. Harris further refused to allow his attorneys to present mitigating evidence on his behalf. His mother and sister also declined to serve as character witnesses, leaving the jury to only hear evidence from the prosecutors. Harris was not the initial focus of the police investigations. A chief investigator on the case testified that authorities made sketches of two men based on descriptions provided by "six to eight" people interviewed after the shooting. Only later were police informed that Harris was in the area after escaping from the custody of a Michigan deputy sheriff and stealing her gun--the same type used in the shootings. Police became further convinced of Harris' involvement when Helen Chisnick, one of two sisters wounded at the liquor store, said she was "70 percent" confident that Harris was the shooter after viewing his photograph. Defense lawyers maintain that Helen's sister, Christina, was influenced by Harris' photos in the media before viewing him in a six-man line-up. ©2004 Illinois Coalition to Abolish The Death Penalty |
|---|