COUNTYWIDE : Armbands Protest Harris Execution

In Orange County courtrooms and at the offices of the public defender, black armbands are becoming a familiar sight.

And if attorneys Denise Gragg and Roger Alexander have their way, many more armbands will be visible before the planned April execution of Robert Alton Harris.

In an effort to attract attention to the first person to be put to death in the California gas chamber since 1967, Gragg and Alexander, who are both deputy public defenders, began passing out armbands last week. Harris, who is scheduled to die April 3, was sentenced to death for the 1978 murders of two San Diego teen-agers. “We just felt so helpless about the whole death penalty issue,” Gragg said. “We are hoping that the armbands will at least start people thinking and talking about what the death penalty really means.”

Deputy Chief Public Defender Carl Holmes says most of the 120 attorneys in the office are wearing the armbands because they deal directly with clients put on death row.

Several attorneys from the public defender’s office say they will attend the all-night vigil for Harris at San Quentin April 2. “We are stressing that murder is wrong no matter who commits it, and that the public should understand the reality of that,” Alexander said.