Judge refuses to reduce death sentence for man who murdered two in South L.A.

A judge denied a request today to reduce the death sentence for a man convicted of murdering two people and attempting to murder two others in a South Los Angeles housing project.

Defendant Kai Harris, 32, along with another man, was convicted of the 2004 killing of a rival member of his gang in a drug dispute, before turning his gun on three women who witnessed the attack in the apartment.

Two of the women survived gunshot wounds to the face, but the third, Annette Anderson, 52, considered a pillar of the community, was killed. Her death spurred an outpouring of grief in the Watts neighborhood where she lived all her life.

After the judge announced his decision today, Harris, slender and muscular, his hair in long tight braids, turned to a half-dozen relatives sitting in the back of the courtroom and stared without emotion. He eventually forced a smile. Two small children, Harris’ cousins, choked back tears. Harris’ family had ties to two of the victims.

Anderson and the man involved in the drug dispute who was killed, George Brooks, were family friends.

“You don’t know how to feel now. You love both families,” said Harris' aunt, Lavett Outlaw, who was dressed in black. “We have a great loss on both sides.”

Harris and the other defendant, Donte McDaniel, entered an apartment in the Nickerson Gardens public housing project in April 2004 looking to settle a drug dispute. One of the two surviving women, who has since died of unrelated causes, suffered bullets in her chest and face, shattering her upper jaw and palate.

The woman, Debra Johnson, a frail drug addict, later drew attention for her fearless testimony against her attackers.

“The crime scene was so bloody the coroner investigator said that she could taste a metallic taste in her mouth just from all the blood that had been spilled,” said L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Halim Dhanidina. “She had to throw away her work clothes.”

Judge Michael Johnson called the crime “cruel and inhuman” and said the the loss to family and friends was enormous, particularly for Anderson, who was known to help those in need.

“She was the kind of person who would take in anyone who needed a place to stay or something to eat,” Dhanidina said about Anderson.

Neighbors said at the time of the murders that Anderson, a cancer survivor, would often watch over neighborhood kids.

The judge rejected the defense’s argument that Harris was intimidated by McDaniel into committing the murders. Harris is set to be executed at San Quentin State Prison.

-- Robert Faturechi

Comments

[new2you]

Allow me to pull the switch. His death sentence couldn't take place soon enough.

[Lester Lieberman]

Mr Harris had a choice - to kill or not to kill. This was not a TV show -- it was real life. I am definitely against taking of ANY human life for any reason, but I have to balance my parochial view against the needs of the community. Why spend $50,000.00 a year giving felons like this life for 40-50 years in a "life sentence without parole"? It doesn't make sense. The community has needs other than keeping wanton killers alive for these lengthy periods. $2,500,000.00 can help a lot of LAW-ABIDING people have a higher quality of life without having fear from predators such as Mr. Harris proved himself to be. The travesty of the death penalty, however, is how long it takes to carry it out! That is what needs revision, not whether to have the penalty or not!

[syscom3]

Good riddance to this sociopath.

[Yoga]

Quick! There must be some way to blame LAPD!

[theidahokid]

Why are we wasting money on appeals, this is the 9th judicial district, they haven't allow a death penalty to be carried out in a very long time, this guy will die from old age before the state of insanity (California) does him in....

[one shot deserves one in the arm]

To bad it will take the state 30 years to do anything. It is sad the taxpayers will suck up expenses for this worthless piece of human garbage.

[Joel]

Because the death penalty is nothing short of state sponsored murder. Any killing is wrong, including that sanctioned by the state.

I do consider myself a Christian and, as such, I am guided by the ten Commandments. And one of those does say "Thou shalt not kill". There are no clauses to that statement...no exceptions. It just states don't do it.

We risk murdering innocent people and placing blood on our own hands by allowing state sponsored murder.

Peace

[P. D'Antonio]

Since drug disputes are daily occurrences in these communities, why don't they appoint a committee to handle them? It's no secret that residents are using and selling drugs.

[Minajon]

He has the death penalty? In CA? So, tell me when his sentence will be carried out. What a joke is the death penalty in California...

[Minajon]

He has the death penalty? In CA? So, tell me when his sentence will be carried out. What a joke is the death penalty in California...

[shrapnel]

I'm a christian as well. Just to comment on my fellow christian. God instituted the death penalty in the Law(Tora.) It was stoning by the way. Thou shall not kill was a moral command, which is good to abide by, but if you decide to murder then the penalty was being stoned to death. That Law(Tora) was specifically for Israel at that time. Now here we are 4,000 years later with our law which is a joke. What happened to a good old fashioned hanging in a couple of months after your sentence?

[TheBigPicture]

As I've said in the past, anyone with a 20+ year sentence should be marched to the gas chamber and dealt with appropriately...Standing room only...We would reduce the jail population and prison cost dramatically...

[Joel]

To shrapnel all I can say is there are no exceptions to the words "thou shalt not kill". You show me the exceptions that allows state sponsored murder and I'll agree with you. You can't because they don't exist.

All capital punishment is IS state sponsored revenge. It doesn't deter crime and it doesn't deter criminals because most crimes are committed in the heat of the moment and not when people are in full possession of their faculties.

The proper punishment is the removal of this type of individual from proper society and placement behind bars until he dies. So many people think prison is some country club where everyone lies around all day watching television and eating bon-bons. It's not like that. Truly. It can be brutal and ugly. But that is where this individual, and others like him, belongs. To perhaps be awakened one day to horror of what they've done. But mostly to keep them away from the people who do live their lives in an honest manner. It is cheaper in the long run to do that for a lifetime than to kill them by state sponsored murder. To kill the killers leaves nothing but blood on our hands for which we WILL be judged.
Peace.

[Nessa Boo]

First of all to all those that don't know Kai cannot speak up on his be half, this was a mistake and he is not guitly and at some point we need to look back at the police and the things they cover in order to get a convictions. You are in my prayers and always would be. there are a lot of men in jail behind crimes they didnt do.

[Rahmona]

This is a true tragedy! I grew up with Kai; I was in a relationship with him as a teenager. Although I moved out of the Los Angeles area years ago, when I found out in 2005 that Kai was arrested and accused of murder.I have followed his trail through out the years and hoped that something like this would not happen to him. The system has pointed labeled him as a gangbanger, cruel and inhuman, black etc... but, he is still a human being. I understand he made a bad choice and his emotions took over him on the day of the murders and he does need to be punished for what he did, but the "death penalty" just does not sound right to me! Was he sentenced to die because he was black? gangmeber? poor? I beleive in my heart that this happened due to his low socio-economic status. I am sad but I pray that Kai would not die by the hand of another man! I wish he could reach out and serve as an example to other young kids who think the gang and drug life will have any reward for them. Again I knew Kai, I had a relationship with him we laugh, we hung out and I love him even after all of this has happened. I will do what I can to help him over turn this death penalty conviction!

[Rahmona]

I am disgusted to see the comments these ignorant people post! First of all if you guys no anything about the LAPD is that "they are dirty cops" I know Kai and I know he did not murder those dam people! The LAPD should be the ones on the stand abd getting charged with murder. I pray that justice is served and I believe in GOD and what his love can do for others, I will not rest until this is all in the light! For all of those people that dont know Kai and the dirty prison and law enforcement system... "think again" they will do you in!