When now-retired Judge Nanette Warner sentenced Galareka Harrison to natural life for killing her University of Arizona dorm mate, she said she would've given the student a shot at parole if Harrison had been abused as a child or had a significant mental problem.
It turns out there was evidence of both.
On Thursday, Pima County Superior Court Judge Scott Rash ruled Harrison's new attorney should be allowed to present that evidence at a new sentencing hearing. The date has not yet been scheduled.
During Harrison's trial in September 2008, Pima County prosecutors argued Harrison stabbed Mia Henderson, 18, to death on Sept. 5, 2007, just days after both girls moved from the Navajo Nation into a UA dorm to start their freshman year.
Prosecutors Rick Unklesbay and Kellie Johnson said Harrison killed Henderson because Henderson told university police on Aug. 28 that she had found her UA CatCard and Social Security card in Harrison's wallet, and that $500 was missing from her checking account. A CatCard is a combination identification and campus charge card.
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Earlier this year, Assistant Pima County Legal Defender Alex Heveri asked Rash to give Harrison a new trial, or at least a new sentencing hearing. She argued public defenders John O'Brien and Dawn Priestman did a poor job representing Harrison, who is now 23.
If they had done a better job she might have been convicted of second-degree murder or manslaughter and not ended up in prison for the rest of her life, Heveri said in her motion.
Heveri argued Harrison was nearly psychotic when she killed Henderson and her original attorneys should have tried to prove it instead of arguing the murder was self-defense.
The appellate attorney said O'Brien and Priestman began interviewing witnesses "only weeks before the trial," and because no investigation was conducted, Harrison's jurors and Warner were left with the impression Harrison was "a stellar student from a wholesome, traditional Navajo family," Heveri said.
A doctor who was asked to give his opinion on Harrison repeatedly asked for background information about Harrison but didn't get any, Heveri said.
Had they investigated, Heveri said, O'Brien and Priestman would've learned:
• Harrison grew up poor in a two-bedroom, 500-square-foot home with six siblings and her parents.
• Her father routinely beat her mother and siblings.
• Harrison's scholarship did not pay for books, meals or her room. Not knowing that, she arrived at the UA with only $200 and received no help from UA personnel despite repeatedly asking for it. At the time of the murder, she was taking diet pills to suppress her hunger and drinking energy drinks.
• Harrison had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in 2005 after her mother stabbed herself during a domestic dispute.
"These issues and more led to her near-psychotic break at the time she committed the murder. Harrison was under extreme and unusual stress. Her thinking ability was severely impaired at the time she committed the charged crimes," according to Heveri.
Rash ruled in May he didn't think O'Brien and Priestman did a poor job during the guilt-and-innocence phase of the trial, but held a hearing last week as to the sentencing phase.
O'Brien testified he was led to believe the Harrisons led normal, happy lives. He thought Harrison was on a full scholarship and didn't ask for UA records because the freshman had just started. He also had no reason to believe relevant medical issues existed.
Unklesbay argued against a new sentencing hearing, saying the "red flags" Heveri spotted were evident only because of hindsight. Harrison's relatives gave no hint of discord at the sentencing hearing, Unklesbay said. They spoke about being a close-knit family raised with traditional values.
In his ruling Thursday, Rash agreed the defense had no reason to investigate the possibility of a dysfunctional family.
However, the defense team should have given Harrison's medical records to the psychiatrist it hired.
Had he received them, Rash said, the defense could have "presented some evidence that the defendant's family life was something other than loving, supportive and without abuse."
Whether the evidence will make any difference remains to be seen, but Harrison ought to be able to pre-sent it, Rash said.
A status hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com