Convicted of killing mother, stepfather and fled with a hit list to kill
Harris P. Wilson, who was convicted of three counts of capital murder for the April, 1991 shotgun slayings of his mother and stepfather is scheduled to appear before the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole today (Thursday, June 23) with hopes of being released from prison.
Escambia County District Attorney Steve Billy said he sent a letter to the parole board voicing his opposition to Wilson’s release saying if anyone needs to stay in prison it was Wilson.
Following the slayings, Wilson, who was 16 at the time, left after stealing Knotts’ work truck and headed to Arkansas with a ‘hit list’ of other victims that included his biological mother.
Knotts’ daughter found the bodies of her father and stepmother inside their Barnett Crossroads residence a few days after the killings.
Testimony at his trial showed that Wilson and Knotts got into an argument after Knotts would not allow Wilson to take the truck to Oklahoma.
Several days later the truck was located in Tulsa, Okla. Officers said they found five guns and ammunition in the truck. Wilson was captured while sleeping at a friend’s house in Fort Smith, Ark.
An Escambia County grand jury convicted Wilson of capital murder. The jury recommended life without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty.
Five days after being convicted, Wilson and two other inmates escaped from the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton. Wilson suffered multiple cuts from going through the razor wire at the jail, but was quickly captured.
Circuit Judge Bradley Byrne accepted the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Wilson to life without parole. However an appeals court sent the case back to the circuit court for re-sentencing, saying law at the time did not allow a person who was 16 years old at the time of the incident to be sentenced to either death or life without parole.
Byrne then re-sentenced Wilson to life, which makes him eligible for parole.
Billy said the family has to relive the nightmare every five years when Harris comes up for parole.
“He’s got other intended victims according to his list,” Billy said. “They don’t need to live in fear if he gets out.”
Billy also said there was evidence that Wilson contacted some of the people on his ‘hit’ list while he was incarcerated.
