Court Upholds Death Sentence

A federal appeals court today upheld the death sentence of Robert Alton Harris for the 1978 murders of two teen-age boys in San Diego, moving California one possible step closer to its first execution since 1967.

Harris’ challenges to his convictions and death sentence, based on pretrial publicity and other issues, were rejected by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on a 3-0 vote. Out of 32 death sentences that have been upheld by California state courts, Harris’ case has advanced the furthest through the appellate system and is the only one to have reached a federal appeals court. Today’s ruling leaves him with only an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.