By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, October 13, 1991
The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A20
Joseph M. Harris is one of six inmates in the Bergen County Jail and its annex who have been convicted or accused of murder.
Bergen County Sheriff Jack Terhune said Harris is being kept on suicide watch in a single cell in the mental ward in the annex. Other than that, the living arrangements for Harris will be no different from anyone else’s in the jail, Terhune said.
Harris has had one visitor: a cousin who declined to discuss the visit, made on Friday, and asked that he not be identified. The sheriff confirmed that the cousin was the only visitor.
Harris journey through the courts has barely begun, and will be a long one.
“What we are doing is preparing the case for a grand jury, and, in addition, this case is one that we have to decide whether or not to ask for the death penalty. We have not made that decision yet,” said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy.
“He has not asserted any kind of psychiatric defense. He may. That’s his right,” Fahy said.
In readying the case for presentation to a grand jury, investigators are seeking to determine how and where Harris amassed the arsenal he took to the Ridgewood post office. He carried a .22-caliber gun that can be purchased legally, but it was equipped with an illegal silencer. The Uzi and MAC submachine guns he also carried could have been purchased legally in New Jersey prior to May 31, when they were outlawed as part of a state ban on assault weapons.
Investigators also will be checking Harris telephone records, as well as those of the families and friends of his victims.
Fahy said he expected an indictment in six to eight weeks.
“There’s no doubt this is the worst murder I’ve seen since I’ve been a prosecutor,” Fahy said. “The scary thing is that it could have been a lot worse. ”
Keywords: WAYNE; RIDGEWOOD; MURDER; MAIL; EMPLOYMENT; MENTAL; HEALTH
ID: 17357983 | The Record (New Jersey)
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