In Buffalo, New York, a 90-year-old woman named Catherine Jones was found deceased in her Highgate Avenue home on the morning of Sunday, November 21, 2021. A loving woman who was living with dementia, she had been shot in the chest. Police had responded to the residence after receiving a 911 call for a domestic disturbance. Upon arrival, officers encountered her 40-year-old granddaughter, Jamien Harris, at the front door.
Harris, who was her grandmother's caregiver, was initially
arrested for possession of an unregistered illegal weapon found in the home. She was considered a strong person of interest in her grandmother's death from the beginning of the investigation. In November 2022, Harris pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminal possession of a firearm and was subsequently sentenced to five years of probation.
In May of the following year, a grand jury indicted Jamien Harris on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Catherine Jones. However, in a surprising turn of events, a judge later dismissed the murder charge, citing double jeopardy. This decision was met with distress by Catherine Jones's family, who felt that justice was not being served.
The Erie County District Attorney's Office appealed the judge's decision to dismiss the murder charge. In a subsequent ruling, an appellate court reinstated the second-degree murder charge against Jamien Harris. She is now expected to face trial for the shooting death of her grandmother, a case that continues to work its way through the legal system.
