The Melvin Harris Story

Melvin Harris

Update June 2020: I wrote this story a couple of years ago. It was about a man named Melvin Harris. In December 2019 he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 years in the state penitentiary.

Originally published Aug 2018: Recently I came across a video on my Facebook feed that brought up the differences of how black and white crime is covered. The video featured Chris Watts, a white man who had murdered his pregnant wife and 3 and 4 year old daughters. It also featured Melvin Harris, a black man who was accused of beating a man to death for following his daughter into a women’s bathroom and the attempting to enter her locked stall. It contrasted the local news media coverage by pointing out the disparaging mug shot photo’s of Harris, while showing Watts in photos with his murdered family. Watts is from Colorado, while Harris is from Arizona. While I understand what the video is trying to convey, I can’t see a nexus here. It’s like apple’s and oranges to me. Watts was a psychopath who murdered his family and buried them in an oil field where he worked, while Harris was defending his daughter from a crazed sexual predator who was trying to rape her in a public bathroom. But it was something the person said that posted the video, which drew my attention. The fact that Melvin Harris did not get the media attention the psychopath got. By portraying Watts as an anomaly with aberrant violent tendencies could mean the difference between life and death as far as the jury pool is concerned. In the meantime, the only pictures of Watt being shown is him in handcuffs and an unflattering mug shot. So I going to tell his story as best I can and to the person who posted that video, this one is for you.

Jackson and Harris

One of the worst nightmares any parent could have is the one where your child has been raped by a deviant sexual predator. This is the scenario which Melvin Harris faced on August 2nd. After leaving work and picking up his daughter and her friend, his daughter ask if the could stop and get a soda at a QuikTrip gas station in Phoenix and use the bathroom. Meanwhile outside panhandling sexual deviant Leon Armstrong was doing what he does, asking for money and stalking young black women. He approached Harris and asked him for some change. Harris gave him some loot and then the bama disappeared into the QuikTrip. While Harris was waiting outside, Armstrong was in the ladies bathroom trying to force open the door on the bathroom stall his daughter was in. Unsuccessful in his rape attempt, Armstrong left and went to a graveled area near the station. A visibly upset and traumatized daughter came out of the bathroom and immediately reported the crime to the security guards and to her father. Harris demanded that something be done and told security if they didn’t handle their business, he was going to handle it. The guards said they would take care of it. Harris got back into his car and his daughter saw the perpetrator. Here the story gets a little muddled. Harris says, when he approached the sexual deviant, the mother from smuckers tried to square up. Harris said he was provoked in whipping the A off the SS. Others say as soon as Harris saw him, they saw the A fall. By the time Harris left, Armstrong was suffering from a broken nose and as a result of Harris stomping him, severe head injuries. Armstrong died two days later from cerebral edema. (brain swelling). Harris was later track down thru a security video located in the area. When confronted by the police, Harris admitted he was the one in the altercation, but that he had been provoked. At first they charge him with felonious assault. It was later upgraded to second degree murder after Armstrong succumbed to his injuries.

Though the majority of opinion as to who was at fault, fell almost entirely on Armstrong, he was not without his supporters.  Ashley Armstrong the deceased man sister told a local TV station, “I understand you want to defend your daughter. I totally get that. I have kids myself. But the way he went about it was totally wrong.” Another family member also had something to add. Armstrong’s grandmother, Marie Armstrong said, “He suffered from drug addiction and mental illness, and had been living on the streets of Phoenix. We did not know where Leon was for days until the family learned he was in the hospital from the  police. He didn’t just get kicked in the head once, twice, maybe three times. His brain was so beat up that he could not breathe. I do not believe he was out to harm his daughter. I really seriously in my heart believe that he was confused in the bathroom.” But that’s not the way the Harris family see it. Diana Jackson, Harris’s fiancée, said that he was protecting the girl. “I’m not mad at him. I don’t feel like he did anything wrong. I love him. He did what he was supposed to do for our kid. You cannot tell someone they’re wrong for protecting their children. I would have done the same thing. I don’t feel bad at all for his actions. I feel bad that the man ended up dying in the process. I do.”  As for her daughter, Jackson say’s she feels guilty. She wishes she had never asked her dad to stop at that store. She described Harris as an “awesome” father and “really a family man,” who has seven other children and two grandchildren. “I just think murder shouldn’t be an option as a charge.”

As a father I am very conflicted by this story.  On one hand, if a fiendish sexual predator got caught “fiending,” got his ass whipped and died as a result, well as far as I’m concerned the world is a better place without him. However, if Harris attacked a mentally ill person and beat him to death because he could… well that’s a different story. I would hate to sit on this jury. Melvin Harris has not entered a plea. He is expected in court for arraignment sometime this week. His court appointed attorney has not commented on the case. The video I talked about at the beginning of this article can be seen here.

 

 

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