Galareka Harrison

Background

Galareka Harrison was a former University of Arizona student from Chinle. Mia Henderson was 18, of Tuba City.

Harrison and Henderson were roommates in a University of Arizona dorm during the first-year scholars program.

Before the killing, Henderson accused Harrison of stealing Henderson’s UA ID, Social Security card, and $500, and of forgery involving Henderson’s checkbook and cashing a $500 check using another student’s ID.

The offence

Harrison was convicted of first-degree murder for slaying Mia Henderson by stabbing her 23 times.

Seven of the 23 stab wounds struck Henderson’s major organs. The wounds were found on Henderson’s back, ranging in depth from half an inch up to 7 1/4 inches. Three wounds were deep enough to penetrate her left lung, two punctured her right lung, one struck her spleen, and the deepest wound struck her right kidney and liver. Henderson had defensive wounds on her right hand and wrist.

At trial, prosecutors said Henderson discovered Harrison had stolen Henderson’s UA ID, Social Security card, and $500 and two checks, and Harrison was angry when Henderson turned her into police for the alleged thefts, so Harrison stabbed her 23 times and inflicted wounds on herself.

Defense attorneys said Harrison killed Henderson in self-defense and described Harrison as bullied.

Investigation

Galareka Harrison gave University of Arizona police an interview on the day Mia Henderson was slain. The interview began with Harrison hearing chitchat from detectives and then moved to Harrison sobbing hysterically when she said an unknown man attacked the two women around 2 a.m. Sept. 5, 2007.

Harrison later said she lied to another UAPD officer the week before when she confessed to stealing Henderson’s UA ID, Social Security card and $500 from her bank account.

When asked by detectives why she lied before, Harrison said: “Because Mia had a gun.”

Deputy County Attorney Kellie Johnson said prosecutors presented the audio statement to jurors to show how Harrison told “lie after lie after lie” after she stabbed Henderson to death.

Arrest / Custody / Pre-trial

Harrison was charged with first-degree murder, stealing the identity of another UA student and three counts of forgery.

A judge raised Harrison’s bond from $50,000 to $500,000, and allowed Harrison to return to the Navajo Reservation if she was released. Pima County Superior Court Judge Nanette M. Warner granted the prosecutor’s request to increase the bond.

Deputy County Attorney Rick Unklesbay said the low bond set by a magistrate judge was not enough to ensure Harrison would return to court for trial. Unklesbay said the magistrate did not know Harrison would be indicted on fraud and theft charges for accusations that she stole three checks from Henderson’s checkbook and cashed one for $500 using another student’s ID.

Warner expressed concern whether Harrison was getting medical care in the Pima County Jail. Warner said Harrison was very young and that it was hard for her. Warner asked if Harrison had seen a physician and whether she had been prescribed anti-depressants.

Hirsh said Harrison had seen the jail’s physician and would be evaluated at some point to determine whether she needed mental health treatment.

Warner said that if Harrison made bond, either in cash or secured by assets, she should return to her hometown of Chinle to await trial, and ordered that an extradition waiver must be signed first.

Harrison’s maternal aunt Judith Jake; sister Garveda Harrison; and mother, Janice Harrison, testified that Galareka Harrison had never disobeyed the law or family rules. Janice Harrison testified: “I love her so much. She’s still like my baby to me.”

Hirsh asked Janice Harrison whether her daughter had problems with alcohol or drugs. Without directly answering, Janice Harrison said her father had been a medicine man and her children were all raised to help heal other people.

Trial

In September, a jury found Harrison guilty of first-degree murder, forgery and identity theft, saying the evidence was overwhelming.

During Harrison’s police interrogation, she asked: “Can I ask you a question?” about 40 minutes into the interrogation. Harrison said she’d overheard something she wanted detectives to confirm. When asked “What’d you hear?”, Harrison said, crying: “That Mia is dead.”

A witness, Diane Povatah, testified that she was awoken by screams early on Sept. 5, 2007. Povatah said: “It was early morning and, um, I was awoken by screams.” She said she could not determine whether the screams were in the hall or above her and that to her knowledge it came from everywhere.

Povatah testified: “Screaming was going on and I heard bumping noises.” She said: “The best way I can describe it is as if someone was moving furniture.” She testified the sound ceased: “It ceased. It stopped. I didn’t hear nothing for a couple of minutes. By then, I had opened the door and peeked out. I closed the door.”

Povatah testified she heard someone say, “Help me, Stacy. Help me.” She said Galareka was saying that to another student.

Povatah testified she saw Henderson bleeding from her back and kneeling with her head touching the floor. She testified: “I saw Mia and, um, she was, um, kneeling down. Her head was touching the floor. Her hair was in front of her.”

Povatah testified she saw Harrison bloodied with a gash in her right calf sitting on the hallway floor crying. Povatah said she called UA police, and that Harrison told her Harrison had been stabbed.

Povatah testified Harrison said: “That she had just gotten back home. Mia was calling her a bitch and that she was calling her all types of different names, grabbed a knife and started stabbing her.”

Deputy County Attorney Rick Unklesbay asked Povatah if she knew whether Harrison was telling the truth. Povatah testified: “No.”

Londynn Young testified that Henderson discovered Henderson’s CatCard was missing on Aug. 24. Young testified Henderson suspected Harrison might have taken it. Young testified Henderson said: “Don’t assume that yet.” and “That’s the last resort.”

Young and Jordon Begay testified that a campus police officer and a woman in the dean’s office laughed when Henderson insisted on pressing charges against Harrison and demanded Harrison be removed from the dorm and the Native American student program both were enrolled in. Young testified: “kinda chuckled, like huh!” and that after that he said, “This happens every day.”

Young testified that Povatah saw a UA officer tell Henderson and Harrison to “let bygones be bygones” and shake hands.

Young testified Henderson received a text message from Henderson on Aug. 30, 2007. Young testified: “Mia walked in, and Galareka was on the bed, quiet, with her head down and asked Mia, ‘So what are you going to do?’ ” Henderson told Harrison: “I’m pressing charges and I don’t want to live with you anymore,” Young testified. Young testified Harrison later text messaged an apology, which Henderson never accepted.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Harrison bought a knife before returning to her dorm and stabbed Henderson 23 times early on the morning of Sept. 5.

Yolanda Nez testified that Harrison spoke of having a “bad feeling” on their way back into town the night before Henderson was slain. Nez testified: “I didn’t know what to think.” Nez said Harrison did not specify what the “bad feeling” was about and that Harrison said something was going to happen.

Nez testified they stopped at a Target store because Harrison wanted to buy school supplies. Nez testified Harrison picked out a large kitchen knife. Nez said she asked what class it was for and that Harrison insisted the knife was identical to one another girl had in a class. Nez testified Harrison did not say what class.

Nez testified: “I was like, ‘What class is that for?’ She didn’t say what class. I said, ‘Are you sure you don’t need an X-acto knife?’ ” Nez testified that Harrison insisted: “She didn’t say what class. I said, ‘Are you sure you don’t need an X-acto knife?’ ” and that Harrison insisted the knife was identical to one another girl in a class had.

A physician, Dr. David Winston of the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office, testified about the stab wounds, including which wounds could have been fatal and the depth and organs affected.

UA sophomore Analisa Valencia, 19, testified she was sitting next to Harrison in a study group the evening of Aug. 27. Valencia testified that when she returned to her room in the Graham-Greenlee residence hall, where Henderson and Harrison shared a room, her wallet was missing from a zippered compartment inside her tote bag.

Valencia testified that around 2 a.m. on Aug. 28, she received a phone call from a woman who said they were calling from Wells Fargo and that something had happened to her account and they were needing her account information. Valencia testified: “No, it was awkward that they were calling that early in the morning,” and that she told them to call her back later that day. Valencia said she reported her wallet missing to UAPD on the morning of Aug. 28. Valencia testified that early on the 29th, Officer Timothy Lopez told her he found her wallet in Harrison’s possession.

Deputy County Attorney Rick Unklesbay asked Povatah if she knew whether Harrison was telling the truth, and she said: “No.”

Sentencing

On November 25, 2008, Pima County Superior Court Judge Nanette M. Warner sentenced Galareka Harrison to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Mia Henderson by stabbing her 23 times.

Warner also sentenced Harrison to 2.5-year sentences for three counts of forgery and one count of identity theft, with the sentences to run concurrently. Harrison received credit for 447 days already served in jail.

Assistant Public Defender John O’Brien said he did not know “if she had the ability to stand up and speak,” and Harrison muttered a few inaudible words in court.

Warner asked Harrison if she wanted to say anything before sentencing. Warner later indicated Harrison had asked for forgiveness from Henderson’s family as well as Warner.

Warner said: “Someone made a statement yesterday that forgiveness is the Navajo way. But stealing is not the Navajo way. Murder is not the Navajo way.”

Warner said: “This is a people who pride themselves on living in harmony with each other and with nature.”

Warner referenced statements made by Harrison’s family during a four-hour sentencing hearing in which they repeatedly said that no one knows what happened the day Henderson was killed. Warner said: “I have a pretty good idea what happened in that room that night.”

Warner said: “You killed her in a very violent way, with repeated stabbing.” Warner said: “There’s just no way around that. You did that.”

Warner said: “The choices you made, that you put into motion the first week you came to school, the choices you made in the early morning of Sept. 5, no sentence I can give can change that,” and: “Nothing I can do can give the Henderson family back their daughter (or) erase their pain.”

Deputy County Attorney Rick Unklesbay told Warner prosecutors sought a life sentence because of emotional damage suffered by Henderson’s family and the Navajo and university communities, among others.

Unklesbay said Harrison’s extensive planning included planting the notion that she knew someone who was suicidal days before the slaying, warranting the most severe sentence. Unklesbay said: “Here is a woman who . . . was not acting under the pressure of the moment, not acting under the stress of college, but she had planned this out for days in advance – when she went back home for the weekend – and carried out her plan.”

O’Brien pleaded for the possibility of parole, saying Harrison committed a “crime of passion.” O’Brien said: “Galareka is truly, truly sorry for the pain she has caused.” O’Brien said: “Before you is a young woman who was lost, who was overwhelmed, whose world was literally caving in all around her.” O’Brien said: “Someone who was at the bottom of the barrel, and the light was getting smaller and smaller above her.”

Appeals

Harrison received credit for 447 days already served in jail, which would come into play if the murder conviction or sentence was overturned on appeal.

Outcome

Harrison was sentenced to life in prison without parole on November 25, 2008 for first-degree murder of Mia Henderson, and she received concurrent 2.5-year sentences for three counts of forgery and one count of identity theft.

Other details

Henderson’s parents, Henry and Jennifer Henderson, urged Warner to increase bond. They wrote: “We are still coping with the tragic loss of our beloved eldest child,” and that knowing that “(Galareka) Harrison is set free on bond will greatly add to our emotional, spiritual strain which will affect the way we function as parents to our living children (and) everyday activities.”

Assistant Public Defender Robert Hirsh urged Warner to keep bond at $50,000 so Harrison’s family could raise money and get her home for mental health counseling she may need.

Chief Assistant Public Defender Robert Hirsh asked Janice Harrison about problems with alcohol or drugs.

Harrison’s mother, Janice Harrison, testified: “She’s still like my baby to me.”

The narrative around the killing described Harrison and Henderson as both Navajo students in a University of Arizona Native American scholar program, with housing in Graham-Greenlee residence hall.

A described timeline of the pre-trial events included Henderson filing a police report on Aug. 28 accusing Harrison of theft and forgery after Henderson saw Henderson’s Social Security card and a campus debit card sticking out of Harrison’s wallet, and Harrison admitting in a police interview on Aug. 29 that she had stolen the cards, fraudulently bought a sweat shirt, stolen Henderson’s checkbook and cashed a $500 check, and used another stolen ID as her own.

After the killing and arrest, Navajo community members gathered for the 61st annual Navajo Nation Fair, where Harrison was to have competed in the rodeo with her sister, Garveda.

Timeline

• Aug. 24, 2007 — Henderson discovered her CatCard was missing and suspected Harrison might have taken it.
• Aug. 27, 2007 — Analisa Valencia testified she sat next to Harrison in a study group the evening of Aug. 27.
• Aug. 28, 2007 — Henderson filed a police report accusing Harrison of theft and forgery; Valencia reported her wallet missing to UAPD on the morning of Aug. 28.
• Aug. 29, 2007 — Harrison admitted in a police interview that she had stolen Henderson’s cards and committed theft and fraud.
• Aug. 30, 2007 — Young testified she received a text message from Henderson: “Mia walked in, and Galareka was on the bed, quiet, with her head down and asked Mia, ‘So what are you going to do?’ ”
• Sept. 4, 2007 — Harrison returned to school after a Labor Day weekend visit home.
• Sept. 5, 2007 — At about 5:45 a.m., students reported hearing screams in Graham-Greenlee; Henderson was killed after Harrison stabbed her 23 times.
• Sept. 13, 2007 — An Associated Press report described Henderson’s killing and Harrison’s arrest and that Harrison was facing a $50,000 bond.
• Oct. 3, 2007 — Judge Nanette M. Warner increased Harrison’s bond from $50,000 to $500,000.
• Sept. 17, 2008 — A report described Harrison’s interview with University of Arizona police and trial testimony.
• Nov. 25, 2008 — Warner sentenced Harrison to life in prison without parole and imposed concurrent 2.5-year sentences for forgery and identity theft.