Crime Watch Daily At the time of Chiquita Tate's murder, she was representing brothers Denako (L) and Dearius Duheart in the 2007 murder of Jason Fourmy.
Greg Harris is currently serving a 40-year prison sentence for a crime he says he did not commit. In 2011, he was found guilty in the 2009 brutal stabbing death of his wife, Chiquita Tate. Ahead of the Dateline: NBC episode about his case, here is what you need to know about Tate’s murder and where Harris is today.
Harris Is In Jail in Louisiana, But He Alleges One of Tate’s Clients’ Brothers Is the Real Murderer
In 2016, Harris petitioned the courts for a new trial. In the court filing, he alleged that Denard Duheart is the real culprit. Duheart, now deceased, was the brother of the two men Tate was representing in a high-profile murder trial at the time of her death — Dearius and Denako Duheart were on trial for the 2007 burning death of Jason Fourmy.
Harris and his attorney, Rick Gallot, allege that the DNA found under Tate’s fingernails matches Denard and that he killed Tate to get a continuance in his brothers’ trial. Incidentally, the Fourmy charges were later dismissed against the Duheart brothers after several witnesses were shot and killed, according to The Advocate. denard Denako was eventually convicted of attempted second-degree murder in an unrelated incident and is now serving 20 years in prison. Dearius is serving a 14-year sentence due to a 2014 gun charge conviction.
But according to a follow-up article by The Advocate, District Judge Bonnie Jackson denied Harris’ request for a new trial. He is currently serving his 40-year sentence in the Louisiana Department of Corrections location in Baton Rouge. He is not eligible for parole.
The Duhearts’ mother, Dangelique Duheart Russ, was arrested on a bribery charge in 2009 and eventually sentenced to two years in prison for trying to bribe a shooting victim in an unrelated case to not press charges against her son Denako, according to WAFB.
Harris’ Arrested Stemmed From A Domestic Violence Incident and Blood Evidence
Police initially did look at the Duheart brothers as possible suspects, but they only looked at Dearius and Denako, who were both in jail at the time of Tate’s murder. So they turned their attention to Harris, who had an outstanding warrant for contempt of court after he failed to appear at a pre-trial hearing over a domestic violence incident involving his wife.
According to CNN, the warrant revealed that Tate was “planning on divorcing the defendant (Harris) due to marital problems” and had leased a separate apartment.
So when her husband found Tate’s body stabbed 38 times in her law office, a scene Baton Rouge Policer Sergeant Elvin Howard Jr. told Oxygen was “the most brutal murder [he had] ever worked or witnessed,” the investigation quickly zeroed in on Harris.
They arrested Harris and executed a search warrant on his home and car, eventually finding blood traces matching Tate on surfaces that included the washer and dryer and in a closet. Harris was charged with second-degree murder, though the jury found him guilty of manslaughter. In 2011, he was sentenced to 40 years in jail without the possibility of parole.
Dateline: NBC airs Fridays and Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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