Murderer Released on Parole Kills Again

A Los Angeles murderer who raped and stabbed a woman to death in 1982, was released on parole in 2018 under new rules adopted by Jerry Brown’s Proposition 57, “The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016”.  Bill Melugin of Fox News reports that on April 8, 2021, Eddie Allen Harris was arrested for stabbing another woman to death.  Brown’s Act gave the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation unlimited authority to release convicted criminals, even murderers.  It is the second time Harris benefited from Jerry Brown’s soft spot for criminals.  Back in 1982, when Harris killed his first victim, Brown, serving his second term as Governor, had appointed liberals to the state parole board, vetoed a law to restore the death penalty,  signed a bill into law called the Prison Inmates Bill of Rights, and had created the most liberal Supreme Court and appellate courts in state history.  A conviction of the rape and stabbing murder of a woman would typically be charged as aggravated first degree murder, carrying a sentence of death or life without parole.  Under the Brown administration Harris got 15-years-to life.  In a just world, he should have never set foot outside of prison

Fortunately, succeeding Governors Deukmejian and Wilson appointed stronger members to the State Parole Board, which denied parole for this killer until the second Brown administration.  Brown’s new appointees to the Board, given carte blanche authority by Proposition 57 to do so, released him.  Like Allen’s first victim, the body of the second woman he is charged with killing was found stabbed to death in an alley.

Last year Governor Newsom signed AB 3234 into law.  It would give parole eligibility after 20 years to any criminal other than murders serving life without parole.  Under that law, Harris could have been set free 10 years ago.  Others like him will go free.

Now that Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is at the helm, Harris could get even more breaks.  Gascon refuses to seek the death penalty or allow sentence enhancements.  As he announced after his election last year, “…this Office will reevaluate and consider for resentencing people who have already served 15 years in prison.  Experts on post-conviction justice recommend that resentencing be allowed for all people (not just those convicted as children or as emerging adults) and some experts recommend an earlier date for reevaluating continued imprisonment.”  Looks like Harris has a good chance of avoiding the full consequences for brutally murdering his second women and may, thanks to Gascon and Newsom, actually have a shot at getting released again.

While both of Harris’s victims were black, Black Lives Matter has shown no interest in this monumental injustice.