Court denies post-conviction relief for Robert Harris in Warren County murder case

JACKSON, Miss. (VDN) — The Mississippi Court of Appeals has upheld a Warren County Circuit Court decision denying post-conviction relief to Robert Maurice Harris Jr., who is serving a 40-year sentence for second-degree murder.

Harris had appealed the lower court’s ruling, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel and a conflict of interest involving his attorney. The appeals court, in an opinion filed April 29, found no error in the circuit court’s decision.

Harris was originally indicted for first-degree murder in the death of Anderson White III. On Nov. 14, 2019, he entered an open plea to the lesser charge of second-degree murder. At his sentencing hearing on Dec. 6, 2019, he received a 40-year sentence with 15 years suspended, 25 years to serve, and five years of post-release supervision.

In a motion filed in December 2022, Harris argued that his guilty plea was involuntary due to poor legal advice and that his trial attorney, Toney Baldwin, had a conflict of interest because he had previously represented a potential State witness.

An evidentiary hearing was held Feb. 16, 2024. Harris testified that Baldwin told him he would only serve half of a 25-year sentence if he entered an open plea. He also claimed that Baldwin’s previous legal representation of a potential witness created a conflict that compromised his defense.

The court further noted that, even though Harris’s conflict-of-interest claim was not properly raised in his original motion, it lacked merit regardless. In its opinion, the court emphasized that to prove such a claim, a defendant must demonstrate that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected the attorney’s performance. The judges added that a merely potential, hypothetical, or speculative conflict is not sufficient grounds for reversing a conviction.

The appeals court found no evidence that Baldwin’s performance was adversely affected by his prior representation of the witness, nor that Harris’s plea was influenced by misleading legal advice. During the original plea hearing, Harris affirmed under oath that no one had promised him leniency or early release in exchange for his plea.

The ruling affirmed the lower court’s finding that Harris failed to provide sufficient evidence to support his claims and denied his post-conviction relief.

Attorneys Tamarra Akiea Bowie represented Harris on appeal. The State was represented by Barbara Wakeland Byrd of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.