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Robert Alton Harris
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Robert Alton Harris (January 15, 1953 – April 21, 1992) was an American
criminal and murderer who was executed at San Quentin State Prison in 1992 in
connection with the 1978 murders of two teenage boys in San Diego. His
execution was the first in the state of California since 1967.
Harris
was born in North Carolina and was abused as a child. He had run-ins with law
enforcement as early as age 10, and was first placed into juvenile detention at
age 13 for stealing a car. His mother abandoned him at age 14 and soon after he
was again placed into juvenile detention after stealing another car. Following
his release he found work, married, and had a son, but in 1975 he was
imprisoned for manslaughter; he was paroled in January 1978.
On
July 5, 1978, Harris and his younger brother commandeered a car occupied by two
16-year-old boys, John Mayeski and Michael Baker, ordered them to drive to a
remote area, then killed them. The brothers then used the boys' car as their
getaway car when they robbed a San Diego bank. Harris was arrested less than an
hour after the robbery and charged with murder, auto theft, kidnapping,
burglary, and bank robbery. Ironically, one of the arresting officers, Steve
Baker, was a father of one of the murdered boys, but did not realize that fact
until later. Robert Harris was convicted and sentenced to death on March 6,
1979. After a series of appeals and stays of execution, Harris was executed in
San Quentin's gas chamber on April 21, 1992.
Please
go to this previous blog post to learn more.
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