The stabbing death of 11-year-old Irvin Harris resulted in a conviction Thursday when a sex offender who baby-sat the boy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
Keeping with the terms of a plea agreement, Judge John Howard sentenced Melvin Jones, 53, to 50 years in prison.
“We all had a piece of this case ? the entire city,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld said outside Clarence Mitchell Courthouse. “We had to make sure justice was done for Irvin Harris.”
Prosecutor Brian Fish said the plea agreement ensures that Jones will die in prison.
“Bottom line is: He?s dying in jail and that?s what matters,” Fish said. “There?s no way this man is seeing the light of day.”
The boy was last seen on July 28, 2006, in the 2900 block of Belair Road with Jones. A missing-person report was filed by Irvin?s mother, Shanda Harris.
Jones? daughter contacted police and notified them that Jones told her he killed the boy and that the body was behind a church located on Belair Road, according to prosecutors. Detectives found Irvin?s body and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined he was killed by
21 stab wounds. Jones then confessed to the investigating detectives.
Shanda Harris, who was not present in court Thursday, pleaded guilty earlier this month to reckless endangerment. Between July1, 2005, and July 30, 2006, Harris allowed Jones, a convicted child sex offender, to have access to her four children, including Irvin.
“Irvin Harris died in the first a stone?s throw away from his house. Today is about Irvin Harris,” Bealefeld said. “We can?t lose sight of that.”
