A 25-year-old Manassas man Friday pleaded no contest in a plea agreement that reduced a 1995 murder charge of his grandmother to voluntary manslaughter, almost nine years to the date of his initial arrest.
In August of 1995 James Harris, who was 16 at the time, was arrested and certified as an adult and charged with the murder of Edith Wanzer, his 60-year-old grandmother. Harris was initially indicted on first-degree murder charges in February of 1996 but would later plead guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years. The entire sentence was suspended except for six months in jail.
In January of 2001 Harris was released based upon a motion brought forth by his attorneys to vacate and dismiss the conviction citing a now overturned Virginia Supreme Court ruling called the Baker decision. The Virginia Supreme Court had then ruled that both parents of a juvenile needed to be served with written notice of juvenile court proceedings against their child, and failure to do so constituted a lack of jurisdiction.
In March of this year Harris was indicted for murder after the Commonwealth Attorney's Office decided to indict Harris after reviewing the case file with Sheriff's investigators.
The Baker decision was modified and overturned in the subsequent case of Nelson v. Warden, which allowed prosecutors throughout the state to again prosecute individuals who had their cases dismissed on the technicality.
At the time of the murder Harris lived with his grandmother when she disappeared from their North Sterling Boulevard home. She was reported missing by her husband on June 20, 1995.
Harris is alleged to have murdered his grandmother after an altercation at the residence.
Wanzer's body would be discovered in a field near Park View High School in July of 1995 by cadaver dogs.
Harris was sentenced Friday to seven years with six years and eight months suspended. This takes into account the previous three years that he served under the vacated case. This sentence also includes three years of supervised probation.