Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman on Wednesday afternoon reduced JaMichael Harris’ bond from $500,000 to $100,000 on Wednesday and ordered him to pretrial house arrest at his parents' home. Harris is charged with the the first-degree murder of Inez Burney.
Ms. Burney was found strangled to death in her bathtub after the defendant called the authorities claiming that she had drowned. The state alleges that Harris murdered the victim after she posted a picture online of a large sum of money and then tried to stage her drowning. He has been in custody for over a year.
At the time of his arrest, the defendant was found to have fingernail scratches on his face that appeared to have come from the victim trying to defend herself. A forensic investigation also revealed that two items of bedding cloth had both the victim’s and the defendant’s blood on them.
The defendant’s counsel argued Wednesday that because he and his family have lived in Chattanooga all of their lives and their entire extended family does as well, a bond reduction and order for house arrest would be appropriate.
Harris’ mother testified that while she and her husband could not afford the original bond, they could put together enough for the reduced bond and could further guarantee that the defendant show up for future hearings.
She said, “I believe in my son’s innocence and I want to get him home safely. That’s my child.”
Harris will be relocated to his parents' home, which he had been living in at the time of his alleged offense, and will be equipped with an ankle GPS bracelet by House Arrest Systems of Tennessee. He will also be banned from access to the Internet or any digital device that would allow him to contact a third party, potentially to intimidate possible witnesses.
He will be restricted to his parents' property and authorities will be notified of any geographic violation or tampering of the device within 15 seconds. Also if he fails to appear for future court dates, the family will be responsible for the full $100,000 bond and will forfeit their original $10,000 payment.
Judge Steelman said that he does not find evidence that the defendant would be a danger to the general public given his lack of a criminal record prior to this charge and the strong level of family support made evident through family testimony.
A sentencing date has not been set as the state is waiting on the TBI to conclude its testing of forensic evidence found at the scene.