Jailhouse Informant in Harris Case Recants Some Testimony

The jailhouse informant whose testimony helped convict Robert Alton Harris of first-degree murder 12 years ago recanted some of that testimony in court Tuesday, saying he had been coached by investigators.

Joey Dee Abshire, 44, a career criminal, said he agreed to lie on the stand during the trial in an effort to avoid extradition to Louisiana, where he had escaped from prison.

Some of the falsehoods, he testified, were based on information he either had read or been told by investigators.

Harris was convicted in 1979 of kidnaping and shooting to death two 16-year-olds, John Mayeski and Michael Baker, on July 5, 1978, so he could use their car in a bank robbery. Although he was subsequently sentenced to death, his execution in the California gas chamber has been postponed several times, the latest as a result of the current hearing.

Defense lawyers are seeking a retrial for Harris, who could be executed in the gas chamber next year if he loses in his latest round of appeals.

Tuesday’s testimony came during the first day of a hearing in U.S. District Court to determine whether Abshire was acting as a secret informant for the district attorney when he talked to Harris about the killings and later testified about information that Harris gave him.

Abshire testified 12 years ago that Harris told him he killed the boys to prevent them from identifying him after he stole their car. The evidence was important in showing that the killings were premeditated--not impulsive--making Harris subject to a first-degree murder conviction and the death penalty.

But on Tuesday, Abshire said that Harris never made that admission; he also recanted several other incriminating statements Harris supposedly made during a 1978 conversation in a Chula Vista jail cell.

In Tuesday’s testimony, Abshire said that investigators for the district attorney’s office, Raymond Cameron and John Boulden, coached him on what to say and how to answer questions and to deny that he had made any deals with the prosecution.

Under questioning, Abshire said he told the two investigators in 1978 that he “would make a deal with the devil” and testify against Harris if prosecutors would assure him that he would not be sent back to a Louisiana prison.

Charles Sevilla, one of several attorneys representing Harris, said that if Abshire was acting as an agent for the district attorney at the time, then his trial testimony would be inadmissible.

“If he was working as an agent, he would have to give Harris his Miranda rights. The major issue is whether he was an agent when he took the statements (from Harris),” Sevilla said.