Court reverses 1996 Briones Regional Park murder conviction
SAN FRANCISCO >> More than two decades after he was sentenced to life in prison, a Bay Area man’s murder conviction has been overturned by an appeals court, which cited a 2019 law that limits when people who didn’t kill someone can be charged with murder.
LeMar Harrison, 44, was 19 when he was arrested and charged with murdering 21-year-old Stephen “Snoo” Harless in a marijuana robbery set up at Briones Regional Park in Lafayette. Harrison was sentenced to life, but was paroled in 2018.
The court’s 24-page order reverses an October 2019 ruling by Superior Court Judge Charles “Ben” Burch, which found Harrison had failed to demonstrate he was entitled for relief under SB 1437, a law passed in 2019 that significantly restricts California’s felony murder rule. Under the post-SB 1437 penal code, prosecutors must prove that a murder defendant acted with reckless indifference to human life, or was the actual killer.
In Harrison’s case, prosecutors contended that his co-defendant, Lamont Sterling Johnson, was the man who shot and killed Harless, after the two lured him down a trail in the park. Harrison allegedly shot at Harless after
Harless had been struck by bullets from Johnson’s gun, and later fired at a park ranger’s car as he and Johnson were driving away. He later testified he did so out of fear of Johnson, who’d ordered him to shoot, according to the appellate court decision.
In his January 2000 bench trial, Harrison was convicted of murder during the commission of a robbery, but the judge found prosecutors failed to prove that Harrison was either the actual killer, aided and and abetted the murder with intent to kill, or acted with reckless indifference to human life. The nuance of the verdict is what led to Harrison’s freedom 20 years later.
Specifically, the trial judge found Harrison hadn’t acted with reckless indifference to “innocent” human life because Harless was engaged in marijuana sales, the appellate court decision says. Authorities believed that Harless was a marijuana dealer who sold to an Asian-American street gang that originated in Union City and included both defendants.
The appellate court decision also says it was “improper” for Burch to have relied on evidence presented at trial to reject Harrison’s 2019 petition, citing a 2020 Sixth District Appellate Court decision that says judges “should not weigh evidence or make credibility determinations” during early legal screenings.
Meanwhile, Johnson remains in Solano State Prison where he is serving a term of life without the possibility of parole. His court case had its own twists and turns that led to the life sentence; he and Harrison were tried separately, with Johnson going first and being convicted in 1999. But then Johnson’s conviction was overturned by a judge who ruled prosecutors failed to turn over key evidence to the defense about a possible third suspect.
Harrison was convicted while Johnson was waiting for a second trial. In 2002, a judge stopped just short of dismissing the charges against Johnson but admonished the East Bay Regional Parks Police Department for “extremely sloppy, careless and possibly negligent” destruction of a computer server with key evidence, this newspaper reported at the time. Johnson was tried, convicted, and sentenced the following year.
After his conviction, Harrison developed a passion for acting and joined a Shakespeare troupe in San Quentin State Prison. In an interview for a blog post on the Marin Shakespeare Company’s website, he candidly discussed his crime, noting his involvement and gang membership, but said his involvement in “drama therapy” helped change his life for the better.
“I was in a dark place with no hope of going home, yet. I was addicted to drugs, and I just didn’t believe that change was possible,” Harrison said. “They gave me a family and a home inside prison to escape the dark negative landscape that I was trapped in. And they gave me hope that I was going to be home one day, and that I would one day be on the stage at Marin Shakes.”