Guilty
Galareka Harrison guilty in roommate’s stabbing

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Arthur H. Rotstein
The Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. — A young woman accused of stabbing her roommate to death in their University of Arizona dorm room was convicted Friday of first-degree murder.

Galareka Harrison was accused of stabbing Mia Henderson 23 times with a knife that she had bought before the attack on Sept. 5, 2007.

Both women were Navajo tribal members from northern Arizona, and members of the nation reeled under news of the incident.

The Pima County jury deliberated about 3 1/2 hours before reaching the verdict.

Harrison, 19, was also found guilty of three forgery counts and identity theft.

She had no visible expression on her face as the verdicts were read, leaning over and whispering to her lawyer a couple of times. After court recessed, she gave a wan smile, stood up and put on a black coat before being led out of the courtroom by jailers.

Outside court, Henderson’s sobbing mother and father huddled with family members.

Nearby, Harrison’s family also cried as they talked to their daughter’s attorney.

Both families left court without speaking to reporters.
Harrison faces life in prison, and could be eligible for parole after 25 years depending on the results of a hearing before her Nov. 25 sentencing. Prosecutors had decided not to seek the death penalty.

A day before the verdict, prosecutor Rick Unklesbay said in closing arguments that the case was one “of overwhelming premeditated murder.”

He said Harrison had planned for days to act against roommate after Henderson had accused her of stealing her student ID charge card, a Social Security card, checks and $500 from a bank account.

Unklesbay also said that she had lied repeatedly to police after the stabbing, calling her a “master manipulator.” She finally admitted to stabbing her 18-year-old roommate, but insisted that she had done so in self-defense.

In his final summation, assistant Public Defender John O’Brien had told jurors that Harrison was not guilty of premeditated first-degree murder.

He characterized Harrison as a naive, scared and confused 18-year-old girl who had found herself unwanted as Henderson’s roommate and worried that she would be prosecuted over the theft allegations.

O’Brien did not put on a case and called no witnesses during the weeklong trial.

He contended that Harrison had been provoked, and asked jurors to consider whether his client could have thought that if she threatened Henderson she might not press charges.

During testimony, another UA student testified that Harrison had bought an 8-inch kitchen knife on Sept. 3 on the way back from a Labor Day weekend trip home to the Navajo Reservation.

Jurors also were told how on that trip back to Tucson, Harrison had mentioned having a friend who was considering suicide, asked whether police could detect fingerprints through gloves and said she thought her roommate was stealing from her.

Unklesbay also recounted how Harrison spent several hours before the stabbing at a campus library composing a fake suicide note pretending to be Henderson, and how she told investigators “I was thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking” in the dorm room before she attacked.

Henderson was stabbed numerous times in the back but still tried fighting back.