In 1975, Melvin Harris was newly married, working as a computer programmer, and about to become a father.
But within a few months of the wedding, his wife said he started hearing voices and suffered from delusions. He believed his boss was putting glass in his food, the Mafia was after him and people were shooting at him on street corners.
In April 1979, Harris “went into a frenzy,” stabbing a woman to death and wounding three men, including his own brother, according to a story in The Virginian-Pilot.
By the time police found him in a wooded area next to Lake Trant, he had driven a butcher knife into his head and was pounding it into a bench to knock it in further, the story said.
A judge later declared Harris not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered him committed to a state psychiatric hospital for treatment. His case was reviewed every year for the first five years after that, to determine if he was ready for release, then every couple of years.
Other than a brief release in 1987 — which was quickly reversed when Harris began to show symptoms again and recommitted himself — he’s remained hospitalized ever since.
But that’s all about to change. After 40 years of treatment, doctors for the now 65-year-old man believe he’s finally ready for release. But because of his many health problems, which includes Parkinson’s disease, Harris will be going to an assisted living facility, according to his attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Annette Miller.
On Monday, Circuit Court Judge Edward Hanson granted the order for Harris’ release. Judge Thomas Padrick, who is a former Virginia Beach police officer, initially had been asked to sign off on it, but he sent it to another judge when he realized he’d been the officer who arrested Harris.
“Last time I saw him was in the emergency room at Virginia Beach General back in 1979,” Padrick said. “It was clear he was severely mentally ill then.”
Harris came into the courtroom Monday in a wheelchair, with a long grey beard extended down to his chest. He sat slumped, with his head bent down, and didn’t speak during the brief hearing.
For decades, Harris bounced between two state psychiatric hospitals and kept getting returned to the more secure one because of behavior issues, Miller said.
About four years ago, doctors found the “magic drug” for him: Clozaril, the defense lawyer said. He hasn’t heard the voices telling him “to kill everyone,” since then and is cooperative, she said. He’s recently been allowed to stay at the assisted living facility for 48 hours each week without any problems.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Pat Connolly said prosecutors didn’t object to the release plan. “In the last few years, there’s been definite improvement,” Connolly said. “He’s had a good three-year track record on this drug.”
The murder that Harris was charged with happened April 28, 1979, in a home on Lake Trant where he and his brother had been staying. The couple who owned the home had been known to take in people who were “down and out.”
Friends later told police Harris had been acting strangely for weeks. The day before the incident, he went to a psychiatric center for help but was given an appointment for two weeks later.
On the day of the incident, he went into a back bedroom and stabbed the male homeowner. He stabbed his brother and another man when they came to the man’s aid, and stabbed the homeowner’s wife to death on his way out.
Harris was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after his arrest.
Miller, who specializes in defending people with mental illness, said Harris’ commitment was the longest that she’s aware of in the state. John Hinckley Jr., who shot and seriously wounded President Ronald Reagan during an assassination attempt in 1981, was released in 2016 from a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., after 35 years of treatment. Hinckley was allowed to go live with his elderly mother in the Williamsburg area after his release.
?Jane Harper, 757-222-5097, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
