Life sentence for Michigan man for killing wife with fatal dose of heroin in cereal

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DAVISON, Mich. (FOX 2) - Two weeks after being convicted of killing his wife with a fatal dose of heroin in her cereal, Jason Harris has been sentenced to life in prison.

Genesee Circuit Court Judge David J. Newblatt handed down the sentence for Harris of Davison in the 2014 death of Christina Davis, according ot MLive.

Harris was convicted in November of first-degree murder, solicitation of murder and delivery of a controlled substance causing death after his 36-year-old wife died in September of 2014.

A medical examiner had classified Christina Harris' death in 2014 as an accidental overdose. But investigators subsequently alleged that it was a murder scheme hatched by Jason Harris at their Davison home in Genesee County.

In 2014, Harris prepared and served his wife a bowl of cereal that had been laced with heroin. According to trial testimony, he served her the food on Sept. 28 and she had difficulty holding onto her spoon. He had to then assist in getting her into bed and both of them went to sleep.

Harris collected $120,000 in life insurance benefits from his wife's death. It was also revealed that he had been communicating with several women before and after her overdose death.

"This was a very tragic case and my heart goes out to the family and friends of Christina Harris for their terrible loss," said Prosecutor Leyton after the verdict was read. "The circumstances of this case make for a unique story and garner headlines in the media but, at the core of it, a family is mourning the loss of their loved one and, I can only hope that today’s verdict will help them with closure as they continue to grieve and they can feel some sense of comfort in knowing that justice under the law has been served."

The next morning, Harris told police his wife was still sleeping when he left work and took the couple's two children with him. Later that morning, he couldn't get her to the phone or respond to texts, so he called a neighbor and asked her to check on his wife.

The neighbor found Christina cold to the touch and unresponsive. Another neighbor who was a nurse was then called and asked to come over. Emergency responders were contacted soon after and Christina was declared dead.

But two days after her death, family members of Christina told Davison police that her death made no sense. The victim did not use drugs.

During the investigation, a sample of Christina's breast milk, which had previously been stored in a freezer, was tested. It came back negative for any controlled substances. The prosecutor in the case said this was the first time breast milk had been used as evidence in a criminal trial in the state.

In addition to the breast milk sample corroborating family testimony, Jason Harris' own brother and sister told police a couple of days after her death that the suspect had made comments about getting rid of his wife.

Only nine days after her death, Jason had purchased an airline ticket to visit a woman in Rhode Island with whom he had been exchanging texts before his wife's death.

The entire investigation by Davison police took two years before Michigan State Police took over. In August of 2019, the Genesee County Medical Examiner changed the cause of death from an accident to a homicide, which allowed prosecutors to pursue a murder charge.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Crime and Public Safety Michigan