Former principal seeks dismissal of sex verdicts

A Chesterfield County judge was asked yesterday to set aside guilty verdicts against the former high school principal at the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center, who was convicted in April of having a months-long sexual relationship with an underage female inmate.

Defense attorney Susan Parrish is seeking to have some of Claude Andrew Harris' four convictions tossed out because Parrish said the victim indicated at trial that at least some of the sexual activity occurred after she turned 18 and was of legal age.

A Chesterfield jury found Harris, the former principal of Joseph T. Mastin High School, guilty of four counts of carnal knowledge of a minor, all felonies, for his 2007 relationship with the inmate, who was 17 at the time. The girl is serving a 35-year prison term for stabbing her mother to death and then burying her in their backyard in May 2004.

During his two-day April trial, Harris, 36, denied having a sexual relationship with the girl, and he continues to maintain his innocence today, Parrish said.

"He's always maintained that this never happened, and our argument was that she was [not credible] from beginning to end," Parrish said.

Harris was to have been formally sentenced yesterday, but Circuit Judge Frederick G. Rockwell III continued the case until July 28 so that he could review the girl's trial testimony, which hasn't been transcribed. The jury recommended that Harris serve four years in prison and pay a $2,000 fine.

Chesterfield prosecutor B.J. McGee said Parrish's motion will fail because authorities have established that most, if not all, of the sexual encounters between Harris and the victim occurred before she turned 18 on July 21, 2007.

The victim, now 19, testified in April that her relationship with Harris -- a married father of two -- started after Valentine's Day 2007 when the two began to exchange letters. Initially, Harris would reply to the girl's lengthy letters with very brief responses, then the responses grew longer.

The relationship eventually grew physical, and the two engaged in sex in May and June in a classroom closet, authorities said. She testified that they had sex at least twice more -- once after his birthday in July and again before he was reassigned to another location in August, McGee said.

The girl's roommate testified that her friend disclosed her first sexual encounter with Harris, and there was bruising to corroborate it.

"There were a number of co-workers, other teachers at the school, that said they found the defendant and the victim alone in various rooms of the school, most specifically the teachers lounge," McGee said, although none caught them engaged in sexual activity.

McGee also introduced a charm pendant and two type-written love letters that authorities said Harris wrote to the girl. "To be with you without anybody else judging us or looking for us would be awesome," one of the letters reads.

Parrish, Harris' attorney, said at trial that the girl had access to the school's computers and wrote the letters herself. McGee said correctional authorities discovered the letters and the pendant during a random search of the girl's room.

"That's when she finally broke down and told the school" about the relationship, McGee said.

In 2004, the girl, then 14, was the principal defendant in a sensational Wythe County murder case that also involved her best friend. According to evidence, the girl picked up a hunting knife during an argument and stabbed her mother in a fury more than 43 times. All 43 stab wounds ran 6 inches deep.

After the killing, the two girls tried to hide the crime, first pouring nail-polish remover, alcohol and oil on the body to burn it. They then poured concrete on the corpse and buried it in a shallow grave in a wooded area of the backyard.

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .