An East Cleveland man already serving a lengthy sentence for the rape of a Mahoning County Jail corrections officer pleaded guilty mid-trial Wednesday to the 2016 cold case murder of Damon Harris Jr. outside an Akron barbershop.
Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich announced that Rondell Harris, 36, pleaded guilty to murder with a 3-year firearm specification, aggravated robbery with a 3-year firearm specification, and having weapons while under disability.
"After nearly 10 years, I hope that this conviction may bring Damon's family some peace and closure," Kolkovich said. "For too long, Rondell Harris walked free, while Damon's family grieved the loss of him just two months before his 25th birthday. I am glad that Harris has finally been brought to justice."
According to the prosecutor's office, Rondell Harris went to a barbershop on Copley Road in Akron in March 2016 intending to commit a robbery. He saw Damon Harris Jr., 24, outside and targeted him instead. After luring Damon to his vehicle, Rondell Harris attempted to rob him at gunpoint. When Damon tried to flee, Rondell Harris shot him once in the back with a shotgun.
The case went cold with no suspects at the time. In 2022, while in custody on unrelated charges, Rondell Harris confessed to the murder, citing details only someone involved in the crime would have known. He has since written multiple letters to Summit County Prosecutors, Summit County Court of Common Pleas judges and the Akron Police Department admitting to the killing.
Rondell Harris was sentenced in Mahoning County in May 2023 to 26 to 31½ years after pleading guilty to rape, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and disrupting public services in connection with the sexual assault of a Mahoning County Sheriff's deputy.
During his Mahoning County sentencing, Harris, who was declared a Tier Three sex offender and a violent offender, was removed from the courtroom after a profanity-laced tirade and continued speaking as the victim delivered a statement. Judge Anthony D'Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Harris after he was escorted back into the courtroom, where he made an obscene gesture and continued to express defiance.
State records indicate that if he completes his entire sentence in the rape case, he would be released from prison in 2051, when he would be 62 years old.
Harris is scheduled to be sentenced on the murder charge on June 30, 2025, at 9 a.m.