Harris Pleads Not Guilty In Virginia Double Homicide

By Benjamin Cox on April 26, 2021 at 1:48pm

A 71-year old Virginia plead not guilty to all charges in a double homicide case from February.

Robert D. Harris of Virginia appeared before Cass County Circuit Judge Timothy J. Wessel today and plead not guilty to 7 counts of murder in various degrees and one count of aggravated battery through the discharge of a firearm at his scheduled arraignment.

Harris faces six counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kathleen Wzientek and Brenda Crum after their bodies were discovered in Wzientek’s home on January 13th.

Cass County State’s Attorney Craig Miller then notified the court that he would be filing a motion of consumption of evidence in the case. Evidence collected at the crime scene included weapons found in Harris’ vehicle at the time of his arrest as well as gun shell casings discovered at the crime scene among other miscellaneous items. Miller told the court the evidence needs to be consumed in the Illinois State Police crime lab for extra processing. The motion will be filed in a discovery hearing on May 12th at 1:30PM.

Judge Wessel also set hearings for an omnibus hearing on June 16th at 1:15PM, a pre-trial hearing on June 25th at 8:30AM, with the possibility of a jury trial at 9AM on July 12th. Harris was remanded back to the custody of the Cass County Sheriff. Harris has been lodged at the Morgan County Jail, being held on $3 million bond.