Lafayette Parish Jury Convicts Man In 1989 Murder

Daniel Harmon was convicted on a 10 to 2 vote Tuesday to second degree murder in the 1989 murder of Christine Wood.

Closing arguments were heard yesterday on the trial's fifth day, and then the case was handed over to the jury.  They deliberated for nine hours before returning the guilty verdict, which carries an automatic life prison sentence.  Harmon will not be eligible for parole.

Sentencing was set for May 30th in Harmon's case by District Judge Glennon Everett.

Harmon pleaded not guilty to the charges.  Prosecutors say Wood was raped then shot before her body and bedroom were set on fire.

Earlier at the trial, Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit, who was a fire investigator in 1989, testified that the smoke alarm had been ripped out of the apartment.  He said he found Wood's body wrapped up in towels in her bedroom, and she was clutching a pillow.

Prosecutors say Wood had been shot in the head three times, and they said that DNA evidence showed that Harmon had sex with her.