 Christopher was arrested on Oct. 1, 2009, and his brother was
arrested six days later. Since being charged with multiple counts of
murder and a wide variety of other charges, the two brothers have
been held without bond, in separate jails. Jason is being held by
McLean County, while Christopher is being held in Logan County.
Since their arrests the two have had no contact with one another,
and they are not permitted to see each other during their hearing
dates.
Thursday morning's status hearings were scheduled to begin at 11
a.m. Shortly after 11 all defense attorneys and attorneys for the
prosecution were gathered in the judge's chambers. They remained
behind closed doors until approximately 11:40.
Shortly thereafter, Jason Harris was brought into the courtroom
with his attorney, Steven Skelton. Sitting at the prosecution table
was Logan County Assistant State's Attorney Jonathan Wright and
Assistant Attorney General Mike Atterberry.
Judge Harris called to hearing to order, then commented that the
only action to take for Jason Harris at this time was to set his
next status hearing date, which will be on April 30 at 3:15 p.m. The
judge indicated he believed there was no other business to discuss
regarding Jason Harris and asked Skelton and the prosecution if they
agreed, which they did.
In less than three minutes Jason was ready to leave the
courtroom. The judge called a brief recess to allow Christopher
Harris and his attorneys a moment to speak together.
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At approximately noon, Judge Harris again called the room to
order. He said that during the discussions in judge's chambers, he,
the attorneys for Christopher Harris and the prosecution had
discussed setting deadlines for certain events.
He announced then that the jury trial of Christopher Harris has
been set to begin on April 29, 2013, 13 months from now.
Attorneys were also given a deadline of April 26 of this year to
submit motions regarding expert witnesses.
Christopher Harris will also appear next month on April 30 at
3:15 p.m. for another status hearing.
There was no indication of when a trial date could be set for
Jason Harris. It has long been determined that Christopher will
stand trial first, so there is little expectation that Jason Harris
will be tried before midyear 2013.
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