Ambrose Harris

Case record: Ambrose Harris

Background

Ambrose Harris was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1996 after kidnapping and killing 22-year-old graphic artist Kristin Huggins.

At the time Harris was tried, convicted, and given the death sentence for her murder, he was already serving a life term in prison. He was required to spend 30 years in jail without parole as a persistent offender for an unrelated 1993 armed robbery conviction.

While on death row, Harris attacked and killed another death-row inmate, Robert “Mudman” Simon. Harris remained on death row after being convicted of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Kristen Huggins in 1992.

The offence

Kristin Huggins left her parents’ home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to paint a mural at the Trenton Club in downtown Trenton. Ambrose Harris determined that he would commit a holdup and enlisted one Gloria Dunn to assist him.

Just out of prison after serving 13 years, Harris spotted Kristin Huggins drive her red Toyota into the parking lot of the Trenton Club. He announced: “I’m going to get that bitch.”

Harris accosted Ms. Huggins, commandeered her car, and drove off after his accomplice Gloria Dunn joined them in the car.

Harris drove to a deserted area under a bridge near Route One and Perry Street, where he forced Kristin Huggins into the trunk. He then drove the car around, eventually returning to the area under the bridge. There, he took Kristin out of the trunk and raped her. He then put her back in the trunk and shot her in the back of the head.

He hid the body under a mattress in the deserted area and left to get a shovel to bury her body. When he returned, he shot her again, this time in the face, to be sure she was dead. He then dug a shallow grave in which he and his accomplice buried Kristin Huggins.

The killing took place Dec. 17, 1992. The victim’s body was not found until Feb. 18, 1993.

Harris was also accused of the assault of at least four other women.

Investigation

Gloria Dunn contacted police months after the murder, claiming to be a psychic who could lead them to the missing young woman. Her story unraveled, and she confessed to her role in the kidnapping and slaying of Huggins after leading police to her badly decomposed body.

Trial

During sentencing in 1996, Harris was asked if he had anything to say to the victim’s parents, who were in the courtroom. Harris turned and suggested that Huggins’ parents apologize to him. His outburst caused the judge to remove him from the courtroom.

Sentencing

Ambrose Harris was sentenced to death by lethal injection on March 2, 1996.

Appeals

The New Jersey Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Ambrose Harris.

A unanimous state Supreme Court upheld the death sentence on Tuesday December 04, 2007. The court ruled that the special circumstances that removed another killer from death row did not apply to Harris. The ruling rejected the latest appeal by Harris, finding that the inmate could not muster a majority of sitting justices who had sided with him on prior appeals. The decision was 7-0.

The decision meant Harris had no further recourse in state courts. His lawyer was James K. Smith Jr., an assistant deputy state public defender.

David Wald, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, said they agreed with Tuesday’s ruling, but said the prior decision allowing the other killer to leave death row was wrong and should be overturned.

Harris’s appeal was pending in federal court.

The Harris ruling was based on a July 2006 decision in which the state Supreme Court overturned the death sentence for Anthony DiFrisco. DiFrisco’s successful appeal centered on complex procedural issues involving the type and timing of reviews afforded in capital cases. The ruling determined that DiFrisco’s death sentence must be overturned because a majority of justices had voted at various times and for various reasons to sentence him to life in prison.

The court did not find the same circumstances existed for Harris, in part because two justices who heard the first Harris appeal were no longer on the court when it considered proportionality review. The court noted that, to find four justices who had voted to overturn his death penalty, Harris essentially counted one justice twice.

In September 1999, Harris killed fellow death-row inmate Robert “Mudman” Simon by kicking and stomping him to death. A jury in 2001 found that Harris acted in self-defense and found him innocent of murder and manslaughter charges.

Other deaths on death row: Robert “Mudman” Simon

Simon was described as a beefy, scraggly long-haired and long-bearded 48-year-old outlaw biker. Simon had several previous murder convictions. Simon was convicted in 1974 for killing his girlfriend after she refused to cooperate in her gang rape by Simon’s friends and fellow Warlocks. While serving time for that murder at Graterford Prison in Philadelphia, he knifed and killed another inmate in 1984.

Simon pleaded self-defense and was acquitted for that later killing. Despite his two killings, Simon was paroled. Only 11 weeks later, Simon murdered police Sgt. Ippolito (Lee) Gonzalez in Gloucester County, New Jersey. This third murder earned him the death penalty.

Simon was known to brag that he had murdered a fourth person.

Harris killed Simon in September 1999 by kicking and stomping him to death. A jury in 2001 found self-defense and found him innocent of murder and manslaughter charges.

Simon was killed as he entered the indoor recreation module of the death row unit. A prison correctional officer testified to a grand jury that Simon entered the “rec cage” and charged Harris. The officer rang the riot bell as he witnessed Harris slam Simon to the ground and continually punch him about the face. When Simon stopped struggling, Harris got up and began to kick him in the face.

The corrections officers were not armed, did not enter the cage, and did not attempt to break up the fight, which lasted little more than a minute. No weapon was used, officials said.

When Harris was indicted for Simon’s murder, Mercer County Prosecutor Daniel G. Giaquinto said Simon died from massive cranio-facial injuries consistent with having been inflicted by someone forcefully and repeatedly stomping on his face.

Other details

At the time he was sentenced in 1996, Harris’s lawyers argued he should be spared the death penalty due to his abusive upbringing.

Harris’s home status included “Last year (2001) a jury in Freehold, New Jersey found that Ambrose Harris had acted in self-defense when he brutally beat and killed his fellow death-row inmate Robert "Mudman" Simon in 1999.”

The account described New Jersey’s death penalty policy as reinstated in 1982, with no executions since 1963.

The account also described a possible legislative change: a bill to abolish the death penalty, with Gov. Jon S. Corzine supporting it. The full Senate was to consider the bill before the legislative session ends on Jan. 8, and the bill was expected to get a vote by the full Assembly this month.

The account stated that New Jersey may be on the verge of scrapping the death penalty, and that New Jersey moved closer to becoming the first state to abolish the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976 when a Senate committee approved replacing capital punishment with life in prison without parole.

The account also stated that race played no part in their convictions and death sentences, and referenced that Simon happened to be white and Harris happened to be black.