In Durham, guilty plea comes 34 years after sexual assault

A man charged with a 1990 sexual assault recently pleaded guilty this week, Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry said.

A sexual assault test kit, collected immediately after the August 1990 attack, was sent for DNA testing in 2021. A hit identifying Harris, now 57, was returned in April 2023 and he was charged in June 2023.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree rape and three counts of second-degree sexual offense.

“Today’s convictions provide accountability more than three decades after this horrible assault occurred,” Deberry said in a news release. “While it does not change what happened, I hope this resolution brings some closure to the survivor in this case — and sends a message to all survivors in our community that the Durham DA’s Office is here for you no matter how long ago an assault occurred.”

The case is the oldest offense the Durham District Attorney’s Office has handled through Durham’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative [SAKI].

Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca, who prosecuted the case, stated in court that the victim left a baseball game and walked to her car in a parking lot near the intersection of Morris and West Corporation streets. When she got in the car, a man with a knife got in the car with her. He then forced her to drive to several locations around Durham, where he sexually assaulted her multiple times. He left after the victim feigned a medical emergency.

Harris was sentenced Tuesday to two consecutive terms of 15 years in prison.

“This resolution would not have been possible without the tremendous courage and resolve of the survivor in this case. We thank her for her cooperation after all these years,” Garcia-Lamarca said. “The Durham DA’s Office will continue working to get justice through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.”