Wilson Will Hear Harris Clemency Bid

Gov. Pete Wilson announced Wednesday that he will hold a clemency review for Robert Alton Harris on April 15, one week before the convicted killer’s scheduled execution.

Wilson will not consider new evidence on Harris’ behalf or arguments on the ethics of the death penalty, the governor’s office said.

Instead, Wilson will allow one hour for Harris’ attorney to make the case for mercy and another hour for San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller to argue for denying a commutation of the sentence.

Wilson refused Harris’ request to be present at the closed session, which will take place in the governor’s Capitol office, but Harris will be permitted to submit a written statement in his behalf.

“There are no guidelines that stipulate how a clemency petition should be addressed,” said Wilson’s press secretary, Bill Livingstone. “So there is great latitude given to the governor. It is a proceeding to determine if grace or mercy should be granted, so the formal rules that govern hearings and the legal process don’t apply.”

When Harris faced execution two years ago, then-Gov. George Deukmejian agreed to meet directly with the killer at San Quentin Prison to hear his appeal for clemency. But Deukmejian’s plan to televise the encounter prompted Harris to withdraw his petition.

At the time, Harris wrote, “I respectfully decline to be part of this media production that you call clemency.”

Harris was convicted in the 1978 slayings of two 16-year-old San Diego boys, John Mayeski and Michael Baker. Appeals in state and federal courts have won Harris a series of delays in the carrying out of his death sentence.

A number of observers, however, including Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, believe that Harris’ appeals have now run out.

A Los Angeles attorney who will represent Harris at the clemency proceeding, Howard I. Friedman, said that his client had asked to be present and would like a public hearing.

“I think we’d prefer it to be a public hearing so that the public knows what is happening,” Friedman said.

Friedman said that he was not surprised at Wilson’s announcement that he will not hear new evidence in Harris’ case but said, “We are pleased (the governor) is going to hold a hearing.”

“That’s what an appeal for clemency is,” Friedman said. “It means that factors relating to this particular person are going to be considered and we intend to bring up circumstances about his birth and prebirth.”

Friedman said he would make the case that Harris suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, a disorder caused by his mother’s drinking.