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Hearing held Tuesday for man accused of spiking wife's cereal with heroin

Posted at 5:43 PM, Nov 05, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-09 09:27:51-05

GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — He’s behind bars, accused of murdering his wife by spiking her cereal with heroin. On Tuesday, Jason Thomas Harris listened as the prosecution started to lay out their case against him in Genesee County.

Harris is accused of killing his wife Christina back in 2014 by putting heroin in her cereal.

In court today, the judge would not allow us to show any witnesses or use audio of their voices – but Jason Harris could clearly hear as his neighbor described his lack of emotion the day his wife was found dead.

Back in 2014, Christina Ann-Thompson Harris had just had her second daughter and she’d recently started a new job.

That’s why Christina’s neighbor thought the busy 36-year-old might have overslept on the morning of September 29, 2014 when Harris asked the neighbor to check on his wife at their home in Davison.

“What did you do when you got to the door,” asked Genesee County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Beer.

The neighbor testified that no one answered the door, so she went into the Harris’s home. That’s when she found Christina in her bedroom, with foam around her mouth, unresponsive.

“When you touched her ankle was there a response,” asked Beer.

“No,” said the witness.

When Christina didn’t move, the neighbor called for help. But it was too late – Christina was dead.

The neighbor testified during Jason Harris’s preliminary exam today that the 44-year-old had no sense of urgency when he returned home after his wife was found dead.

“Did he run or just walk into the home,” asked Beer.

“He walked,” said the witness.

The neighbor testified during Jason Harris’s preliminary exam today that the 44-year-old had no sense of urgency when he returned home after his wife was found dead.

Nearly five years after Christina’s death, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton charged Harris with first degree premeditated murder, solicitation of murder, and delivery of controlled substance causing death -- all felonies. He’s accused of putting heroin in Christina’s cereal. Leyton said Harris’s siblings told police he had talked about getting rid of his wife. Co-workers told investigators that Harris had been looking for a hit man.

On Tuesday Harris’s defense attorney tried to question the neighbor’s memory of the events that day, and suggested Christina had been suicidal.

“Would you be surprised to learn there were pill bottles all over the nightstand,” said Albert Zepka.

But the neighbor also testified that Harris showed no emotion at Christina’s funeral, and said Harris told her he heard Christina coughing as he left for work the morning she was found dead.

“How did that make you feel when Jason Harris said that could be her taking her last breath,” asked Beer. The neighbor said she felt like she had been set up since Jason Harris had called her to check on his wife and sent her in to the home that morning.

Testimony to determine whether this case will be bound over for trial continues Friday.