NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Jimmie Harris Jr., a man already serving over 40 years in a federal prison in California, has been brought back to North Charleston to stand trial for an unrelated crime. Harris, 37, is charged with the murder of 49-year-old Debra Randall Martin, in what authorities say was an act of retaliation following an earlier altercation.
Details of the Crime
According to the North Charleston Police Department, the events began on New Year’s Day in 2014 at “Club Crucial,” where Harris and 33-year-old Montreal Ford got into a fight with each other and their associates. After the altercation, Ford went to a home on Niagara Street, where he shot and killed Harris’s stepmother, 52-year-old Janet Royal.
Later that same evening, detectives claim Harris went to a separate residence, where he shot and killed Martin in retaliation.
Legal Charges and Sentencing
Harris, who was serving a 40-plus-year sentence for an unrelated federal crime in California, has now been charged with several offenses related to the shooting, including murder, attempted murder, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
He has been brought back to North Charleston and is currently being held at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center, where he awaits trial for the murder of Martin.
Ford’s Sentence
Ford, who was involved in the earlier shooting of Harris’s stepmother, Janet Royal, has already been convicted and is serving 17 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and attempted murder.
