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       #Post#: 621--------------------------------------------------
       ~ James Harris, Jr., (TX) ~ 
       By: BuzzC Date: January 18, 2024, 7:44 pm
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       Jury sends confessed killer to death row--
       April 12th, 2021
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       Alton and Darla Wilcox finally received justice after a Brazoria
       County jury condemned the man who stabbed them with a death
       penalty verdict Wednesday, District Attorney Jeri Yenne said.
       The seven-woman, five-man jury needed only a few minutes
       Wednesday morning before returning their verdict in District
       Judge W. Edwin Denman’s Angleton courtroom: Death for James
       Harris Jr.
       Harris becomes the first person from Brazoria County since
       Virgil Martinez to head to the state’s death row. Martinez was
       executed in January 2009 after he was convicted in 1998 of
       killing four people, including two children, near an Alvin
       trailer park.
       Harris, 54, of Angleton pleaded guilty Nov. 11 to stabbing the
       couple in their Angleton home Jan. 14, 2012. Alton, an
       85-year-old World War II veteran, was stabbed eight times,
       including once in the heart. He died while in surgery. His wife,
       Darla, who was 69 at the time, was stabbed 24 times, but
       survived after spending a week in a Houston hospital.
       The jury spent less than five hours over the course of two days
       weighing whether to give Harris life in prison without the
       possibility of parole or the death penalty.
       “It is a rare occasion, and it should be reserved for the worst
       crimes and the worst offenders,” Yenne said of the death
       penalty. “We don’t take it lightly.”
       Defense attorneys Jay Wooten and Mary Conn did not return calls
       for comment.
       Harris forced his way inside the Wilcox’s home in the 800 block
       of North Tinsley, demanding money before pulling out a knife.
       Alton, who was using a walker, made his way from a back bedroom
       to help his wife as Harris was stabbing her. When Harris turned
       the knife on Alton, Darla tried to wrestle it out of his hand.
       “One thing that struck me about this case was what Alton and
       Darla did for each other,” Yenne said. “These two are some of
       the bravest people in this county.”
       The Angleton couple lived to their marriage vows, and how they
       fought for each other is a testament to what true love is, Yenne
       said. Harris left the couple bleeding and tied up on their
       kitchen floor while he snatched $410 from a kitchen drawer,
       pulled the phone off the wall and stole the Wilcox’s Chevrolet
       Impala. Emergency crews rushed the couple by LifeFlight
       helicopter to a Houston hospital for treatment.
       “That World War II vet died in his own house,” Yenne said. “What
       an honorable man. He went into the operating room, asking about
       his wife.”
       Meanwhile, Harris drove to the Economy Inn motel south of
       Angleton to pay for his motel room and hide evidence. Police
       found him there along with the knife in his motel room’s toilet.
       Yenne commended the Angleton Police Department’s officers and
       detectives on a “stellar job,” as well as Brazoria County
       Sheriff’s deputies on their quick response and helping arrest
       Harris.
       While in jail, Harris’ conversations with people who visited him
       were recorded. In them, he was heard saying he didn’t feel bad
       about what happened and his conscience was not bothering him,
       Yenne said.
       “It is important that people show remorse,” Yenne said. “Those
       are some pretty startling and damning recordings.”
       Yenne contended Harris planned the attack, targeting elderly
       residents who did not know him. Brazoria County residents should
       not be afraid to answer their doors, she said.
       The capital murder trial was the first in Brazoria County since
       2010 when Nicholas-Michael Jean of Pearland was tried in the
       kidnapping and murder of Susana DeJesus. A jury elected to give
       him life in prison without the possibility for parole.
       Four inmates from Brazoria County have been executed since 1982,
       according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website.
       Harris’ case will be appealed, Yenne said.
       8)
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