In the late evening hours of March 10, 1988, Isaiah Donald Harris, a 36-year-old Black male serving as a deputy sheriff in Montgomery County, Alabama, was driving to his night shift at the jail. As he paused at a stop sign on the Troy Highway near Cherry Hill Road, his life was abruptly ended by a shotgun blast to the head. His vehicle drifted across the highway and settled in a ditch, where it was later discovered by passersby.
The investigation into the seemingly random act of violence
soon unraveled a sinister plot orchestrated by those closest to Harris. Detectives discovered that Harris's wife, Louise Harris, was entangled in an extramarital affair with a man named Lorenzo McCarter. Driven by the desire to collect on substantial life insurance policies, Louise Harris conspired with McCarter to have her husband killed. To carry out their deadly plan, McCarter enlisted the help of two other men, Michael Anthony Sockwell and Alex Hood. He offered them an upfront payment of $100 with the promise of more money once the murder was complete and the insurance was paid.
On the night of the murder, as Harris prepared for work, his wife alerted her co-conspirators. Sockwell, armed with a shotgun, lay in wait near the entrance of their subdivision. When Harris stopped his car, Sockwell approached and fired the fatal shot at close range. Afterward, he discarded the weapon and his clothing over a nearby bridge. The investigation quickly led to the four conspirators, and they were all taken into custody.
The subsequent legal proceedings brought convictions for all involved. Michael Anthony Sockwell, the triggerman, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Louise Harris also received a capital murder conviction. Although the jury recommended life without parole, the trial judge overrode their decision and sentenced her to death; however, this was later commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Alex Hood was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the conspiracy. Lorenzo McCarter, who testified against his co-defendants, received a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Years later, in a significant turn of events, an appeals court granted Michael Sockwell a retrial, citing discriminatory practices in the jury selection process of his original trial.
