Death sentence recommended for man who killed estranged wife

A death sentence was recommended today for a Jurupa Valley man who killed his estranged wife, while jurors recommended life in prison without the possibility of parole for the defendant's nephew in the quarter-century-old slaying for which another man had been wrongfully convicted.

A Riverside jury deliberated roughly two days before returning with recommendations in the penalty trial of Googie Rene Harris Sr., 67, and Joaquin L. Leal, 58. The same jury last week convicted the pair of first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait.   

The panel also found true a special circumstance allegation against Harris of committing murder for financial gain in the 1998 slaying of 33-year-old Terry Cheek.

Closing statements in the penalty phase of the defendants' trial concluded Thursday, and jurors returned to the Riverside Hall of Justice on Friday for a half-day of deliberations. They were behind closed doors all of Tuesday, as well as part of Wednesday morning, before the recommendations were returned.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz scheduled a sentencing hearing for Leal on Oct. 18 and for Harris on Dec. 6 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Harris' son, Googie Rene Harris Jr., 45, of Palm Desert pleaded guilty in February 2020 to being an accessory to murder. He's free on bond and is set for sentencing on Sept. 26.

Harris and Leal are each being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.   

According to a trial brief filed by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, Harris Sr. and Cheek were embroiled in a divorce, and proceedings faltered due to failed negotiations over disposition of the house they'd purchased together on Lindsey Street in Jurupa Valley.

The defendant and victim had a son together, and Cheek had two young daughters from a prior marriage, while Harris had his adult son.   

After separating from Harris Sr., Cheek became romantically involved with a coworker, Horace Roberts of Temecula, but she continued to live in the home she and her estranged husband purchased together.

Harris Sr. referred to the property as his "dream home," and didn't want to lose it in the divorce. The defendant began confiding in Leal, remarking that Cheek was "trying to take everything'' and how he wanted "her out of the picture,'' the brief stated.

Leal, a convicted sex criminal, was sympathetic.   

Harris Sr. began scheming, drawing Leal and Googie Harris Jr. into the murder plot, settling on the night of April 14, 1998, to carry it out.   

After the victim said goodbye to her son and daughters to head out to work, she walked into the hallway connecting the garage and house to drive Roberts' pickup, which he had allowed her to borrow when her car broke down.   

As she stepped into the dark space, Leal grabbed her from behind, at which point Harris Sr. rushed in and joined him in strangling Cheek, who was able to scratch and bite the defendant, court papers said. Harris Jr. was standing in the driveway, but turned around, "not wanting to see his stepmother killed,'' according to the brief.   

Harris Jr. drove Roberts' pickup with his dead stepmother next to him southbound on Interstate 15 into Temescal Valley, where he took an exit toward Lake Corona, with Leal following behind in his vehicle.

The men dumped the body near the lake, then left in Leal's car, abandoning Roberts' pickup on the shoulder of the freeway. The remains were found three days later, and sheriff's investigators questioned Harris Sr., who told them "Terry was driving her own car and was planning to meet Horace to carpool to work that night," according to the brief.   

Detectives turned their attention to Roberts, theorizing he had gotten into an altercation with Cheek and killed her, despite his repeated denials and alibis. There were two criminal trials that resulted in hung juries. A panel convicted him, wrongfully, of the homicide in 1999. Harris Sr. testified for the prosecution in all three trials.   

The San Diego-based Innocence Project's attorneys took on Roberts' appeals, but the process of re-examining DNA evidence collected from Cheek's body stretched for years. By 2018, there was a successful re-analysis of her fingernail clippings and stains on her jeans.

The findings concluded there was a 1 in 38 trillion possibility that someone other than Harris Sr. was the contributor of the skin and stain samples.

Roberts was released from prison on Oct. 15, 2018, and charges were immediately filed against Harris Sr. and Leal. Harris Jr. was charged a year later and confessed.

Neither he nor his father had prior convictions.   

Roberts, now 66, received an $11 million settlement from the county in 2021 after suing over his wrongful conviction and imprisonment.