New Hope for Phoenix Trio Imprisoned for Murder After Police Killed Their Friend

New Hope for Phoenix Trio Imprisoned for Murder After Police Killed Their Friend

by Meg O'Connor

A Maricopa County judge has granted three young people imprisoned for a killing committed by a Phoenix police officer a chance at post conviction relief.

Johnny Reed, Sariah Busani, and Jeremiah Triplett were 14, 19, and 20 respectively when a Phoenix police officer shot and killed their friend, 19-year-old Jacob Harris on Jan. 11, 2019. They have been imprisoned ever since.

“Sending children to prison to struggle to navigate their way towards some resemblance of survival is wrong, inhuman, and unconstitutional,” Triplett’s mother, Theresa Greene, told The Appeal. “It not only pushes that child to grow believing they are unworthy but it takes a toll on the family as well. Mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially this ordeal is slowly destroying all of us.”

Arizona's felony murder law allows people to be charged with murder even when they did not kill anyone. If someone dies while a person is committing certain felony offenses, like robbery or drug crimes, that person can be charged with murder.

Prosecutors initially threatened to seek the death penalty, Jacob’s father, Roland Harris, said. At another point during the prosecution, Busani faced 75 years in prison. Afraid that they could spend the rest of their lives in prison or be killed, Triplett, Reed, and Busani accepted plea deals from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for 30 years, 15 years, and 10 years respectively. Reed, who was 14 at the time police killed Harris, was sentenced to more years in prison than he had been alive. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, led by Rachel Mitchell, who is running for reelection this year, has continued to defend these sentences to this day.

“The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is confident in the sentencing imposed two years ago,” the office said in a statement shared with The Appeal. “These individuals pled guilty to the crimes committed and their sentence was just based on their level of involvement, their age, and their criminal history.”

Sariah Busani, Johnny Reed, and Jeremiah Triplett.

After The Appeal published an investigation last year into Harris’s murder and the prosecution of his friends, a community coalition formed to demand justice for Harris, Reed, Triplett, and Busani. The Justice for Jacob Harris, Free the Phoenix Three coalition includes The Anti Police-Terror Project, Decarcerate Arizona, Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro, the parents of Harris, Reed, and Triplett, as well as several other community groups. Those groups formed the coalition after radio host and community organizer Cat Brooks featured Roland Harris and The Appeal on her show, Law and Disorder, and offered to assist Roland.

The coalition has organized community events like basketball tournaments and barbecues to support the families, as well as press conferences demanding Phoenix fire the officers responsible for Harris’s death and free his incarcerated friends. With the help of a legal expert, the coalition in April filed requests for post-conviction relief for The Phoenix Three.

On May 29, the Maricopa County Superior Court allowed Busani, Reed, and Triplett’s post-conviction relief claims to move forward and appointed an attorney to each of them.

Now that the trio’s post-conviction proceedings are moving forward, the case has returned to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Cohen, who presided over the trio’s original cases.

During the criminal proceedings against Triplett, Reed, and Busani, Cohen stated unequivocally that Harris did not point a gun at police, as law enforcement officials have occasionally claimed.

“That did not happen,” Cohen said. “He did not turn as he was running and point the gun. His body is going in one direction and one direction only.”

As the cases proceed before Cohen once more, the group’s attorneys will review transcripts from previous settlement conferences and sentencing hearings. Per the rules of the court, the trio’s attorneys must file their petitions for post-conviction relief within 60 days of receiving the transcripts.

The court has already given Triplett and Busani’s attorneys deadlines for filing their petitions: Sept. 17 and 27 respectively. Reed’s attorney has not yet been given a deadline.

After petitions for post-conviction relief are filed, prosecutors must file their response within 45 days. Defense attorneys then have a 15-day window to respond to the prosecution.

Jared Keenan, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, told The Appeal the court could then hold hearings for arguments from both sides and order an evidentiary hearing. The county attorney’s office could also admit it had information it failed to turn over.

Eventually, the court will rule on the claim and either grant or deny their petitions.
If their petitions are granted, “Really all the court could do is order the plea to be dissolved,” said Keenan. “And then you’re back to square one.”

However, it is possible in Arizona to be sentenced to more time than you were originally given when pursuing post-conviction relief.

But Triplett, Reed, and Busani could negotiate better plea deals now that all of the misconduct surrounding their cases has come to light. When Reed, Triplett, and Busani took deals years ago, they didn’t have an organized movement fighting for them. Now that they do, their loved ones hope things might go differently.

“I’d love to see the kids come home,” said Roland Harris. “Give them time served.”

ICYMI—From The Appeal

Further criminalizing homelessness in California won't help the unhoused find stable housing. Instead of doubling down on failed approaches, it's time to unlock the power of direct cash payments for rental assistance, writes Nika Soon-Shiong of Fund for Guaranteed Income.

The Appeal's Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg is writing two books for Big Sea Books! One is a picture book and the other is an anti-copaganda middle grade mystery series that teaches kids about the causes of wrongful convictions.

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