Jail Cell Witness Recants Testimony in Harris Trial

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, a 44-year-old career criminal, said he had 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 Tuesday, 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, in order to take their car for use 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 re-trial 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. The new hearing was ordered by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Abshire, who is serving a 16-year sentence in a Nevada prison for numerous felony convictions, based his 1979 testimony on a July 26, 1978, conversation that he held with Harris in a Chula Vista jail holding cell.

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.

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 eligible for first-degree murder and the death penalty.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Brian Michaels said that Abshire met with district attorney investigators John Boulden and Raymond Cameron on July 26, 1978. During Tuesday’s hearing, the prosecutor played a 15-minute tape of Abshire’s interview with the investigators on that day. Abshire was using the alias Joey Ashworth at the time.

In a transcript of the interview, Abshire told Cameron that he asked Harris why he killed the two teen-agers.

“He said, ah, time was running short, and the kids had seen him and he couldn’t take a chance of them identifying him,” Abshire said.

But on Tuesday, Abshire said that Harris never said that, and he recanted several other incriminating statements Harris supposedly told him in the 1978 jailhouse conversation. Before testifying at the trial, Abshire said that Cameron and Boulden coached him on what to say, how to answer questions and to deny that he had made any deals with the prosecution.

Under questioning by Michaels, 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.

He had been in custody at the Chula Vista jail since July 10, 1978, when he was arrested by Highway Patrol officers as he drove across the border from Mexico in a stolen car. Abshire said he had escaped two days earlier from a jail hospital in Louisiana.

“On July 26, I was willing to make any kind of deal with them (investigators),” Abshire said Tuesday. He added that his “whole intention” was to make sure he was sent to a county honor camp so he could have a good chance of escaping. He escaped from such a camp several days after the July 26 meeting with Harris and was captured on Aug. 10, 1978.

Abshire said he saw Harris “three or four times” between the July 26 meeting and the time he left for the honor camp. He testified Tuesday that Harris was “a total nut case” and was not very communicative.

“He never really answered the questions I was asking,” Abshire testified. “At one point, he (Harris) said, ‘You tell me why I did it.’ ”

Another witness, Sonny Wisdom, also testified Tuesday that he was in the same holding cell with Abshire and Harris on July 26, 1978. Wisdom, who was convicted of burglary, assault and attempted sodomy in Alabama and is serving a life sentence for being a habitual criminal, said that Abshire was “asking questions and getting Harris upset.”

Abshire was trying to get Harris to talk about the killings, Wisdom said, although he testified that he could not remember what questions Abshire was asking.

“Harris said, ‘You tell me what happened. You seem to know more about it than I do,’ ” Wisdom quoted Harris as telling Abshire.

Earlier, Abshire had testified that on July 26, 1978, Boulden and Cameron had given him newspaper stories about the murders so he could familiarize himself with the incident and know what questions to ask. He testified that he had never met Robert Harris before that day.

Although Abshire never denied making the statements on tape, he said the tape played in court was actually spliced from several interviews he had with Boulden and Cameron. He said the description he gave them about the murders, based on information he had obtained from Harris, was done during an Aug. 21, 1978, interview.

In the July 26 interview, Abshire said that Harris accused his brother, Daniel Harris, of “selling him out.” Abshire said that Harris threatened to kill his brother, who later testified against him at the trial.

But on Tuesday, Abshire said that Harris never accused his brother of selling him out.

Abshire’s testimony was confusing and, at times, convoluted. He was often testy and combative with prosecutor Michaels. His thick Southern drawl sometimes made him difficult to understand.

Before the proceedings began Tuesday morning, Harris’ attorneys inquired to make sure Abshire was wearing his false teeth so his testimony would be easier to understand. The wiry Abshire, dressed in new blue jeans and a light blue shirt that looked as if it had just come out of the package, tapped his hands and swiveled back and forth in his chair as he discussed his criminal past and his reasons for cutting a deal with authorities.

The hearing is expected to continue all week.