BEASON — Home and school were places Dillen Constant struggled but the wrestling mat offered him the chance to succeed and inspire others.
PEORIA— An editing error in a videotaped interview Christopher Harris gave to police about the deaths of a Beason family allowed jurors to hear a potentially prejudicial remark and brought the trial to an early adjournment Friday afternoon.
PEORIA — If words proved inadequate to describe the carnage present inside the Rick Gee home on Sept. 21, 2009, photos shown to jurors Thursday in the Chris Harris murder trial brought the full horror of it all home.
PEORIA — The chronology of the Gee family slayings — complete with grisly photos of the five slain victims — was laid out in a Peoria courtroom Wednesday after jurors learned the brother of defendant Chris Harris has been offered a plea deal.
As Tabitha Gee lay in a hospital bed, likely unaware her parents and siblings were dead, she came perilously close to losing the rest of her family.
If death changes life for those it leaves behind, the people of Beason and those who loved the family of Rick and Ruth Gee never will be the same.
Testimony in the murder trial of Chris Harris began Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in Peoria. The trial ended Friday, May 31, 2013, with his conviction in the brutal beating deaths of Rick and Ruth Gee and three of their children at their Beason home in 2009.
12:30 p.m. Chris Harris is convicted on all murder counts. Harris sat with hands folded and looked down. Family of the victims cried. He now faces mandatory life in prison.
BLOOMINGTON — Jurors in the Chris Harris murder trial return Friday morning to the Peoria County Courthouse to resume their deliberations.
PEORIA — Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Thursday in the monthlong murder trial of Chris Harris, who is accused of the 2009 slaying of a Beason family.
PEORIA — Dillen Constant was a happy 14-year-old, earning good grades in his special education classes in the weeks before he died, his former teachers testified Wednesday morning at the Chris Harris murder trial.
PEORIA — Jurors weighing murder charges against Chris Harris now have two versions of how a Beason family may have died: the self-defense claim laid out in testimony Friday by Harris himself and the prosecution version of a killer described in testimony last week from his brother.
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PEORIA— After 12 days of testimony from almost 50 witnesses, the state may be ready to conclude its case Friday against Chris Harris, opening the door for the defendant to tell his account of what happened the night the Gee family was slain in their Beason home.
BLOOMINGTON — Tabitha Gee survived injuries that could have easily killed her or left her permanently disabled, a Peoria pediatrician testified Wednesday at the trial of the man accused of slaying the girl’s parents and three siblings in their Beason home.
PEORIA — Scientific tests on fingernail scrapings taken from murder victim Rick Gee found the DNA of his slain stepson, a forensic scientist testified Tuesday — a finding that Chris Harris’ defense lawyers say supports their case.
PEORIA — At a hearing that delayed proceedings in his murder trial Monday, Chris Harris took the witness stand for an hour to answer questions about his final interrogation before his arrest in the 2009 death of a Beason family in their home.
PEORIA — The Chris Harris murder trial continued Friday with testimony from a state forensic scientist and from three women he allegedly tried to hook up with ahead of the slaying of a Beason family in 2009.
PEORIA — The jury in the Chris Harris murder trial was sent home early Friday to allow lawyers on Monday to make legal arguments apparently related to an interview he gave to police the day he was arrested in 2009 for the deaths of a Beason family.
PEORIA — In December — three years and two months after his last interrogation about the Gee family deaths — Jason Harris recanted his claim that his brother was looking for sex with a teenage girl when he entered the family’s Beason home.
PEORIA — The most potentially damaging witness against Chris Harris is his brother, who freely admits that he is a convicted perjurer and can’t recall how many times he lied to police during the Gee homicide investigation.
PEORIA — Chris Harris will face his brother in court Wednesday and listen from his seat at the defense table as Jason Harris gives his version of what happened the night the Gee family was slain in their Beason home.
PEORIA — Chris Harris was considered an unlikely suspect in the deaths of five members of his ex-wife’s family — until key evidence pointed in his direction.
PEORIA— An editing error in a videotaped interview Christopher Harris gave to police about the deaths of a Beason family allowed jurors to hear a potentially prejudicial remark and brought the trial to an early adjournment Friday afternoon.