Jury deliberations will resume Monday in 2018 Normal double murder case

Posted on June 13, 2020
The jury will resume deliberations Monday morning. (Photo courtesy HOI ABC)

 

By HOI ABC

BLOOMINGTON – After a meeting with the judge, it was decided that the jury would break for the weekend in the murder trial of Christopher Harrison. They deliberated for about an hour and half on Friday.

Christopher Harrison is facing murder charges for shooting and killing Reginald Hart Jr and Joseph Gardner in Normal in 2018 after they attempted to rob him.

Our news partner HOI ABC reports earlier on Friday, the jury listened to over two hours of closing arguments from both the defense and prosecution. Prosecutor Jeff Horve started off, going back to their opening remarks, saying the case is all about drugs, money and guns. He called Christopher Harrison a proud drug dealer who killed Reginald Hart and Joseph Gardner.

Horve said Harrison could have done a lot of things, but he chose to chase the men down after they robbed him. He said Harrison also chose to shoot them 21 times, emptying an entire magazine into their backs. For his last words to the jury, Horve quoted what the defendant apparently said to his brother on April 25, 2018 — the night Hart and Gardner were gunned down.

“[I] smoked them’, yes he did, that’s first degree murder,” said Horve.

But defense attorney Kevin Sanborn said the case comes down to one question. Is one safe in one’s own home? He argued Harrison was legally defending himself and protecting the property that Hart and Gardner were trying to steal from him.

“Your freedom allows you to defend yourself, and your property,” said Sanborn.

Harrison is facing both first and second degree murder charges. The second degree murder charge is part of a strategic move by the defense to give jurors who might be on the fence, the option of a less serious conviction.

Deliberations resume Monday at 9 a.m.

WJBC News can be reached at [email protected]

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