Maintaining innocence, handyman gets life for rape-murder of Drexel grad student

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A West Philadelphia handyman was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison Wednesday in the 2015 rape and strangling of Drexel University graduate student Jasmine Wright.

James Harris, 58, was found guilty by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Sandy L.V. Byrd after 2 1/2-day nonjury trial.

The first-degree-murder verdict carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, but Byrd added consecutive sentences totaling 30 to 60 years for the charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and burglary.

Harris testified that his DNA was found inside Wright’s body because they had a consensual sexual relationship and that she was alive when he left her third-floor apartment at 226 N. 50^th St. at 6 p.m. July 15, 2015.

Assistant District Attorney Gail Fairman argued that Harris did maintenance work at Wright’s apartment building, let himself in with his own key, and then startled and assaulted Wright. Harris was arrested after three neighbors reported seeing him entering or leaving the apartment building near the time of Wright’s slaying.

“I miss Jasmine as my friend as much as I miss my mother who died 43 days before I lost Jasmine,” Harris told Byrd in presentence statement.

“I know how they feel and I know they want justice,” Harris said, referring to Wright’s family, “but it’s not me.”

Wright’s aunts, Rosemary Todd and Dawn Babiker, gave victim-impact statements calling their 27-year-old niece’s killing a loss to the world.

Todd broke down while describing how Wright had just earned a master’s degree in public health and was planning to study law next as a way to advocate for public health services.

Already politically active, Todd said, Wright spent the previous year studying health care in Africa preparing for a career in U.S. public health.

“She always tried to look for the good in people and was a good influence on the world itself.”

Harris agreed to waive his right to a jury trial in exchange for the District Attorney’s Office not pursuing a death sentence.

Harris also rejected a last-minute offer by prosecutors to plead guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for a sentence of 50 to 100 years in prison.

Published: March 29, 2017 — 3:02 PM EDT

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