Edward Jerome Harbison (“EJ”) (b. 1955 | age 68), was convicted of first-degree murder, second degree burglary, and grand larceny for the 1983 death of Edith Russell and sentenced to death in 1985. EJ’s death sentence was eventually commuted in 2011, and he is currently serving a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He has been on DR and in prison for 38 years.
Massive multiple skull fractures with marked lacerations of the scalp and head, expelling brain tissue and literally crushing the victim’s face and disfiguring her beyond recognition.
EJ Harbison. ALS. Pmk: November 28, 2006. SEALED. Contents unknown. Pristine.
a/k/a.: “E. J.”
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Robbery
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: January 15, 1983
Date of arrest: February 21, 1983
Date of birth: 1955
Victim profile: Edith Russell
Method of murder: “Massive multiple skull fractures with marked lacerations of the scalp and head, expelling brain tissue and literally crushing the victim’s face and disfiguring her beyond recognition”
Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
Status: Sentenced to death in 19851
Historic SCOTUS Legal Precedent2
On the night of January 15, 1983, Frank Russell came home to find his wife dead in their home. The house was in disarray and had been burglarized, and there were signs of a struggle. After an investigation, the police went to the home of Janice Duckett, who was EJ's girlfriend and David Schreane's sister. There, the police recovered items taken from the Russells' home. The police questioned David Schreane, who led the police to a marble vase. Testing on the vase revealed the presence of blood. The police also found fragments consistent with the vase in EJ's car and questioned EJ, who confessed to killing the victim. According to the confession, EJ and Schreane went to the Russell home, found no one home, and began putting items from the home into Schreane's car. The victim returned home, discovered the two men inside, and struggled with EJ. EJ hit the victim several times with the marble vase, breaking all of the bones in the victim's head. At trial, EJ testified that he did not kill the victim and was at Janice Duckett's apartment on the night of the crime. He stated that he confessed to killing the victim because the police threatened to arrest Janice Duckett and take away her children. Janice Duckett also testified at trial that EJ was at her home on the night of the murder. The jury convicted EJ. In 1985, a Hamilton County Criminal Court jury convicted EJ, Edward Jerome Harbison, of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction on direct appeal.
EJ’s death sentence was eventually commuted in 2011, and he is currently serving a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
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1 Blanco, J. (2023) Edward Harbison | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers, Murderpedia.org. Available at: https://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/harbison-edward.htm (Accessed: 21 March 2023).
2 Harbison v. Bell, 556 U.S. 180 (2009), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that federal law gave indigent death row inmates the right to federally appointed counsel to represent them in post-conviction state clemency proceedings, when the state has declined to do so. Certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court on June 23, 2008.