Husband Arrested in Murder of Up-and-Coming La. Lawyer
When Chiquita Tate met her husband-to-be, she fell for him—hard. Now he is accused of murdering the up-and-coming Louisiana attorney, whose body was found last month in her Baton Rouge law office. She had been preparing to defend a client the next week in a murder trial.
Sentenced to 90 days for contempt in a seat-belt case afterTate’s law-office murder last month, Greg Harris, 37, was arrested this month and charged with second-degree murder, CNN reports in a lengthy article that tells the story of Tate’s life. A believer in fair play, especially for those less fortunate in life, she had a tattoo of Lady Justice on her back, a college friend says.
His lawyer, however, says authorities got the wrong man: “Greg Harris by all accounts … is innocent. I don’t know anybody that thinks he did it, except the police,” says Lewis Unglesby. “There’s nothing in his background. He has cooperated completely with the police; he’s signed everything they’ve asked him to sign. He’s let them search his house, his car.”
Authorities say Tate, 34, let Harris into her law office on the night of Feb. 19, the Advocate reports. Police found her body there about 6 a.m. the next morning, after Harris called to say she hadn’t come home from work. She had been stabbed 38 times.
In a subsequent interview with Baton Rouge police detectives, they allegedly noted injuries on his hands and left arm that appeared to be cuts and scratches, the newspaper writes.
Soon after Tate met Harris in late 2007, she told her mentor and former boss, East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Court Judge Pam Taylor Johnson, that she intended to marry him, CNN recounts. On Feb. 8, 2008, she did—some six weeks after a Dec. 22, 2007 incident at the couple’s home that led to a domestic violence case against Harris in Baker City Court. Harris pleaded not guilty in March, but did not return for a May 2008 pretrial hearing.
Friends and neighbors saw no signs of discord between the two. But, by the time of her death, Tate was planning to divorce Harris and had rented her own apartment, the arrest warrant for Harris says.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Slain La. Lawyer’s Husband Gets 90 Days in Seat Belt Case”
