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Thread: Jade Douglas Harris - California Death Row

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    Senior Member Frequent Poster NanduDas's Avatar
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    Jade Douglas Harris - California Death Row





    November 28, 2012

    Man Pleads Not Guilty In Downey Triple Murder

    DOWNEY (CBSLA.com) — The man accused of killing three people during a shooting rampage at a fire extinguishing business and home in Downey last month pleaded not guilty to murder and other counts on Wednesday.

    Jade Douglas Harris, 30, is charged with three counts of murder, three counts of kidnapping for carjacking, three counts of carjacking, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon in connection to the Oct. 24 shootings of Josimar Rojas, Irene Reyes and Susana Ruelas.

    Harris also faces special circumstance allegations of murder while lying in wait, murder in the commission of a kidnapping, murder in the commission of a carjacking and killing a witness to a crime.

    The suspect allegedly showed up at United States Fire Protection to buy a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro that was placed on sale through an online ad.

    Harris reportedly killed Rojas, 26, and Reyes, 35, and seriously injured another woman after he learned the car wasn’t at the business.

    According to prosecutors, Harris then forced Ruelas, 34, to take him and her 13-year-old son to the home where the car was located.

    When they got to the residence, Harris is accused of killing Ruelas and shooting the boy, who survived.

    The suspect was arrested on Oct. 25 and booked the following day.

    Harris, who is being held without bail, will make his next court appearance on Dec. 18.

    https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012...triple-murder/
    "The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer." -Theodore Roosevelt

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    Senior Member Frequent Poster NanduDas's Avatar
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    California Supreme Court lets new death penalty cases proceed, despite Gavin Newsom’s moratorium

    By Nico Savidge
    The Mercury News

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court on Thursday rejected attempts from two men to block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against them, indicating the court will not stop new death sentences from being imposed, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom has halted executions in the state.

    District attorneys have continued to pursue capital cases since Newsom this spring imposed a moratorium on the death penalty while he is in office and dismantled the state’s execution chamber.

    Attorneys in two separate cases from Los Angeles County petitioned the state Supreme Court this summer to block prosecutors from seeking death sentences against their clients in part because a future governor could reverse Newsom’s action.

    The court rejected both petitions Thursday, allowing the cases against defendants Jade Douglas Harris and Cleamon Johnson to proceed in Los Angeles County, and potentially clearing the way for those men or others to be added to California’s death row, even as executions are on hold.

    The justices did not make any further statement explaining their decision, as is typical when the court denies petitions for review, and the action does not officially create a precedent.

    But Cliff Gardner, a Berkeley attorney representing several defendants in death penalty appeals, said defendants in other capital cases can probably expect the same response from the high court.

    “Unless there is a dramatically different record that comes to the Supreme Court, this ruling indicates they are not going to stop death penalty trials from going forward,” Gardner said.

    He said the action also underscores how fleeting Newsom’s reprieve from executions could be if another governor decides to reverse his action.

    “It’s not stopping DAs from pursuing capital cases and trying to put guys on (death) row,” Gardner said. “Gov. Newsom’s action speaks for Gov. Newsom and his administration.”

    California last executed a convicted inmate in 2006.

    Harris has been charged with shooting three people to death at a business in Downey in 2012, while Johnson is accused in a series of gang murders from the early 1990s.

    In each petition to the Supreme Court, attorneys argued that it would be impossible for jurors to consider the weight of imposing a death sentence because Newsom’s moratorium has led them to believe it won’t ever be carried out.

    Jurors may wrongly conclude the death penalty has been abolished in California, attorneys for Harris wrote, meaning “the courts can no longer safely rely on the premise that jurors recognize a death sentence as an ‘awesome responsibility’ rather than a symbolic verdict.”

    Prosecutors from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office countered that jurors will be properly instructed that an execution could still be carried out if the jury orders it.

    “Nothing about the governor’s order alters the jury’s role in the system,” attorneys from the District Attorney’s Office wrote in response to Johnson’s petition.

    The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment Thursday on the court’s decision. Lawyers for Johnson and Harris did not respond to requests for comment.

    https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/09/...mpression=true
    "The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer." -Theodore Roosevelt

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Edited:

    He killed 3 people after answering a Craigslist ad. Now he faces the death penalty


    By Luke Money
    The Los Angeles Times

    A man who prosecutors say killed three people and shot two others in Downey after responding to an online ad for a used car almost eight years ago faces the possibility of the death penalty after he was convicted this week.

    Along with three counts of murder, a jury found Jade Douglas Harris, 37, of Los Angeles guilty Thursday of two counts of attempted murder, four counts of kidnapping for carjacking and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

    The trial’s penalty phase, during which jurors will weigh whether Harris is to be sentenced to death, is expected to begin Tuesday.

    According to prosecutors, Harris’ shooting rampage began after he went to a Downey business, United States Fire Protection, on Oct. 24, 2012, in response to a Craigslist ad for a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro.

    There, authorities say he shot three people, killing two — Josimar Rojas, 26, and Irene Cardenas Reyes, 35.

    He then forced Susana Perez Ruelas, 34, to drive him and her son to a nearby home, where the Camaro was parked, according to authorities. After arriving, he shot and killed Perez Ruelas and wounded her son, prosecutors said.

    In his closing argument Tuesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney told jurors that the evidence showed “beyond all doubt” that Harris “executed” the three victims and tried to kill the others to silence them as witnesses so he could take the Camaro without paying for it.

    https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-death-penalty
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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  4. #4
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Jury Recommends Death Penalty in Downey Triple Murder

    By Contributing Editor
    MyNewsLA.com

    A jury Monday recommended the death penalty for a parolee convicted of murdering three people and trying to kill two others in Downey about 7 1/2 years ago while pretending to be interested in buying a Chevrolet Camaro.

    Jade Douglas Harris, 37, was convicted in February of three counts of murder for the Oct. 24, 2012, killings of Irene Cardenas Reyes, 35; Josimar Rojas, 26; and Susana Perez Ruelas, 34.

    Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a burglary, carjacking and kidnapping.

    Harris was also convicted of two counts of attempted murder involving two other people who were wounded, along with four counts of kidnapping for carjacking and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

    Sentencing is set for April 21.

    In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney John McKinney told jurors that the evidence showed “beyond all doubt” that Harris “executed” the three victims and tried to kill two others, including Ruelas’ 13-year-old son, to silence them as witnesses so he could take the Camaro without paying for it.

    Harris had been paroled in July 2012 — just three months shy of the killings — after being convicted in 2005 of robbery and attempted robbery, McKinney said.

    “The plan was to kill everybody,” the prosecutor said. “The charade is over. This is not going to be a (car) sale.”

    The deputy district attorney said Harris was “not leaving any witnesses” and that the victims were “completely innocent in this.”

    “He’s not going back to prison with another robbery,” McKinney said, telling jurors that Harris “systematically starts to execute them in front of Susana” at United States Fire Protection, a business in the 8700 block of Cleta Street in Downey. He had gone to the business under the “ruse” of being interested in buying the car, which had been advertised online, according to the prosecutor. Rojas and Reyes were bound and placed on their knees before being shot in the head.

    Harris then forced Ruelas to drive with her 13-year-old son to the family’s home, where the 2010 Camaro was parked and shot and killed her and wounded her son before driving to Los Angeles in the car, McKinney said.

    The prosecutor ended his closing argument by playing a recording of what he called one of the most powerful pieces of evidence in the case — the emotional 911 call from Ruelas’ teenage son, who told an emergency dispatcher that his mother had been killed and that he had been shot.

    The car was recovered the next day, with DNA matching Harris found on a headrest, according to the prosecutor, who noted that gunshot residue was also discovered on a pair of the defendant’s jeans.

    Harris was arrested a day after the killings and has remained jailed without bail since then.

    https://mynewsla.com/crime/2020/03/1...triple-murder/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #5
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Man sentenced to death for triple murder in Downey; judge refuses to allow Gascon’s statement

    By City News Service

    A parolee was sentenced to death Thursday for murdering three people and trying to kill two others in Downey while posing as a prospective buyer of a Chevrolet Camaro.

    Jade Douglas Harris — who was prosecuted under prior Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s administration — is the first person to be sentenced to death during current District Attorney George Gascon’s administration.

    Superior Court Judge Raul A. Sahagun refused to allow a statement to be read in court on behalf of Gascon, according to Deputy District Attorney John McKinney. The county’s top prosecutor reiterated in that statement that he “does not believe the death penalty is an appropriate punishment in any case” and asked that the court consider Gascon’s policy on the death penalty “in exercising its sentencing discretion in this matter.”

    The judge, who had earlier denied a motion for a new trial, also rejected an automatic motion to reduce the jury’s March 2020 recommendation of death for the 39-year-old defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    In a Tweet posted shortly before the sentencing, McKinney called it “one of the most horrendous crimes I ever prosecuted.”

    “If he committed the same murders today, DA Gascon wouldn’t charge special circs (circumstances) or gun allegations and Harris would be eligible for parole after just 20 years,” the prosecutor wrote in his Tweet.

    Harris was convicted in February 2020 of three counts of murder for the Oct. 24, 2012, killings of Irene Cardenas Reyes, 35; Josimar Rojas, 26; and Susana Perez Ruelas, 34.

    Jurors also found true the special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a burglary, carjacking and kidnapping.

    Harris was also convicted of two counts of attempted murder involving two other people who were wounded, along with four counts of kidnapping for carjacking and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

    In his closing argument, McKinney had told jurors that the evidence showed “beyond all doubt” that Harris “executed” the three victims and tried to kill two others, including Ruelas’ 13-year-old son, to silence them as witnesses so he could take the Camaro without paying for it.

    Harris had been paroled in July 2012 — just three months shy of the killings — after being convicted in 2005 of robbery and attempted robbery, McKinney said.

    “He’s not going back to prison with another robbery,” the prosecutor said, telling jurors that Harris “systematically starts to execute them in front of Susana” at United States Fire Protection, a business in the 8700 block of Cleta Street in Downey. He had gone to the business under the “ruse” of being interested in buying the car, which had been advertised online, according to the prosecutor.

    Rojas and Reyes were bound and placed on their knees before being shot in the head.

    Harris then forced Ruelas to drive with her 13-year-old son to the family’s home, where the 2010 Camaro was parked, and fatally shot her and wounded her son before driving to Los Angeles in the car, McKinney said.

    The prosecutor ended his closing argument by playing a recording of what he called one of the most powerful pieces of evidence in the case — the emotional 911 call from Ruelas’ teenage son, who told an emergency dispatcher that his mother had been killed and that he had been shot.

    The car was recovered the next day, with DNA matching Harris’ found on a headrest, according to the prosecutor, who noted that gunshot residue was also discovered on a pair of the defendant’s jeans.

    Harris was arrested a day after the killings and has remained jailed without bail since.

    https://www.presstelegram.com/2021/0...ons-statement/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #6
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Harris entered California’s death row July 8, 2021.

    https://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov/De...aspx?ID=BP1262
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