Cellmate of Harris Charged With Perjury

Joey Abshire, a career criminal and jailhouse informant whose testimony helped convict Robert Alton Harris of murder, was charged Wednesday with perjury for changing his 1979 trial testimony 12 years later at a special court hearing over the legality of Harris’ looming execution.

At Harris’ trial, Abshire helped convict Harris on two counts of murder, testifying that his former cellmate had admitted the July 5, 1978, killings of two 16-year-old San Diego boys, John Mayeski and Michael Baker.

At the time, Abshire said the confession was unsolicited. But last year, Abshire said under oath that prosecutors had recruited him three weeks after the killings to pump Harris for information and sent him into the cell with Harris as a secret “police agent.”

His new testimony prompted a San Diego judge to call Abshire a liar. Wednesday, prosecutors indicted Abshire in U.S. District Court on five counts of perjury.

Harris was executed in April 21, 1992, the first criminal put to death in California in 25 years.

If convicted on all five counts, Abshire, 47, could be sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. He already is serving a 16-year state prison term in Nevada.

Abshire met Harris on July 26, 1978, in a Chula Vista jail cell. That day, two San Diego County district attorney’s investigators learned that Abshire and Harris had been talking.

The investigators immediately interviewed Abshire. He said in the interview, which was recorded, that Harris told him he killed the boys to eliminate the youths as witnesses to other crimes.

A few months later, Abshire testified at Harris’ trial. Harris was convicted Jan. 24, 1979, of the two murders.

Over the next dozen years, Harris pressed his legal appeals. One of his final claims alleged that prosecutors had violated his rights by secretly recruiting Abshire to obtain information in jail cell meeting.

In May, 1991, Abshire testified that the two district attorney’s investigators had him removed from the cell he was sharing with Harris, then put him back with instructions to question Harris about the murders.