Defense attorneys for the men accused of murdering a Jurupa Valley woman and framing her lover for the crime hammered away at a former co-defendant this week, suggesting that he had a much larger role than simply dumping the body of his stepmother, 32-year-old Terry Cheek, at a Corona lake in 1998.
Attorneys Peter J. Morreale and Darryl Exum cross-examined Googie Rene Harris Jr. in Superior Court in Riverside this week over his plea deal with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office that allowed him to admit to a charge of accessory to murder and face no more than a year in county jail.
In return for his testimony against his father, 67-year-old Googie Renee Harris Sr., and a 58-year-old cousin, Joaquin Latee Leal III, prosecutors said they would drop a murder charge that carried a 25-years-to-life sentence.
Defense attorneys say they believe that Harris Jr., and perhaps someone else, killed Cheek.
Harris Sr. and Leal have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the death-penalty case.
Harris Jr., 45, testified that his father and Leal strangled Cheek in the garage of her Jurupa Valley home on April 13, 1998, because she was having an affair with Temecula resident Horace Roberts Jr., a co-worker at Quest Diagnostics in San Juan Capistrano.
He said his father feared she would divorce him and take his dream home. Harris Jr. said he heard Cheek gasp for her final breath and flail as he looked away.
“It seemed like it was forever” but it lasted only a few minutes, he testified.
Googie Harris Sr. is on trial for the slaying of his estranged wife, Terry Cheek. Prosecutors say he helped strangle Cheek in the garage of their Jurupa Valley home in 1998. (Photo by Angel Pena, Contributing Photographer)
Harris Jr. said Cheek’s body was loaded into Roberts’ pickup, which she had borrowed that day, and he drove her to Lee Lake, with Leal driving behind. Harris Jr. said they placed her body on rocks and that Leal drove the pickup about a mile on the 15 Freeway, where they abandoned it.
Roberts was convicted of murder. He served 20 years in prison before new DNA technology exonerated him and pointed authorities toward the Harrises and Leal. Riverside County paid Roberts, now 66, $11 million to settle a wrongful-conviction lawsuit.
Harris Jr., after being held on $1 million bail, was released after agreeing to testify for the prosecution. He has not been sentenced yet.
“Did you want justice?” asked Morreale, one of the defense lawyers.
“Yes,” Harris Jr. said.
“Did you want justice when Horace Roberts was sentenced to 15 years to life?” Morreale continued.
The prosecution raised an objection, so Harris Jr. did not have to answer.
Harris Jr. also said that at the time he had no remorse for helping his father establish an alibi, but he does now.
Exum, another defense lawyer, addressing the plea bargain, told Harris, “You made a decision that your life was more important than your father’s.”
“The story is not of me committing the murder,” Harris Jr. said. “It’s me being there.”
The defense attorneys said they believe Harris Jr. had a motive to kill: Cheek discovered him, as a 16-year-old, naked and sexually assaulting his naked 7-year-old stepsister. Cheek ordered him to leave their home and move in with relatives in Compton.
Exum attempted to elicit testimony from Harris Jr. that he was bitter toward Cheek. But Harris Jr. said he actually was happy to leave Rubidoux High for Compton High because he had more friends there.
Defense attorneys showed a photo of Cheek’s body on rocks at the lake. Her top was missing, and her sports bra was pushed up. Harris Jr. testified this week that her top was still on when they left her.
Exum theorized that after parking the pickup along the 15 Freeway, Harris Jr. walked back and assaulted her. He denied that.
Joaquin Leal III stands next to his attorney Joe Galasso, in Superior Court in Riverside in July 2024. Prosecutors say he helped strangle his aunt, Terry Cheek, in the garage of their Jurupa Valley home in 1998. (Photo by Angel Pena, Contributing Photographer)
Terry Cheek of Jurupa Valley was slain in 1998. (Courtesy of Riverside County District Attorney’s Office)
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