Harris
JENNINGS COUNTY — An 18-year-old woman accused of attempted murder remained in the Jennings County Jail on Tuesday, nearly a month after a judge ordered her transferred to state custody after allegedly attacking several jail officials in three separate incidents.
Jennings Circuit Court Judge Murielle Bright directed the jail on Oct. 22 to transfer Adrianna Harris, 18, to the Indiana Department of Correction for safekeeping “as soon as possible.” But on Tuesday, jail officials told The Republic that “she’s still with us.”
It remains unclear precisely when Harris will be moved to DOC custody, though the transfer could coincide with her scheduled trip to Indianapolis next week for the first of two court-ordered examinations to determine whether she was legally insane at the time of the alleged offenses.
In a separate order, Bright appointed two Indianapolis doctors to perform the evaluations and instructed the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department to transport Harris to the initial evaluation this coming Tuesday, according to court records. She also directed Harris’s attorneys to file a separate transport order “once the defendant has been placed at a DOC facility.”
Harris’s attorneys are seeking to pursue an insanity defense, according to court records. The judge canceled Harris’s Dec. 15 trial date and scheduled an evidentiary hearing for a potential insanity defense on Feb. 5.
Harris was initially charged in August with six felonies, including two counts each of attempted murder, aggravated battery and intimidation stemming from a stabbing that resulted in two people being airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital for treatment, according to court records.
Over the past couple weeks, Jennings County prosecutors have filed two new criminal cases against Harris.
Last week, Harris was charged with one felony count of battery with bodily injury to a public safety officer and one felony count of strangulation. In late October, she was charged with five felony counts of battery against a public safety official and one felony count of intimidation.
Probable cause affidavits filed in Jennings Circuit Court allege that Harris violently attacked jail officials on three occasions. The alleged attacks left one official with a concussion and others with injuries included bloody scratches, a kick to the face and clumps of hair torn out.
About 1.5 hours after one of the incidents last month, the jail’s mental health professional reported that Harris allegedly “ripped offer her medical mesh underwear and threw them on the floor before playing in her own feces.”
“Due to the smell of her feces, inmate Harris then began to vomit on the floor around the restraint chair,” the affidavit states. “Inmate Harris then began smearing feces all over herself and the chair, while holding feces in her hand.”
Jail officials also have alleged that they have observed Harris “pace back and forth hitting her head with closed fist strikes.”
Harris was initially arrested in August following a stabbing at a Jennings County intermediate care facility.
A probable cause affidavit alleges that Jennings County Sheriff deputies were dispatched to a Benchmark Human Services facility at around 6 p.m. on Aug. 10 in response to a reported stabbing.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they allegedly found two males subduing the suspect, who was later identified as Harris, on the ground outside the facility. The deputies also observed a large kitchen knife covered in what appeared to be blood laying on the sidewalk.
The deputies were able to detain Harris with her hands behind her back using handcuffs. The two males told the deputies that the stabbing victims were inside the facility.
“Upon making entry, I observed a path of blood inside the residence at the front door that led all throughout the inside of the residence,” one of the deputies states in the affidavit.
The deputies found two injured females inside the residence, one with lacerations on both of her legs and another with lacerations on her left bicep and the left side of her back. The deputies applied tourniquets on the wounds.
A few hours later, Harris allegedly told a detective that she had just been transferred to the Benchmark Human Services a few days earlier after residing at a residential treatment facility in Lafayette with her younger sister for around two years.
The transfer to the Benchmark facility resulted in Harris being separated from her sister, which allegedly “was a significant source of emotional distress for her,” the affidavit states.
On the morning of the stabbing, Harris viewed a video of her younger sister on a television in her room and allegedly “got really upset and began throwing objects within the facility.”
She then allegedly grabbed a knife from the dishwasher and began chasing the other residents outside the facility, where she allegedly stabbed two females.
Harris allegedly told the detective that she had been planning the attack “for a while.”
After the stabbings, the other residents allegedly locked her out of the facility. Harris then allegedly climbed a fence in the backyard to get to the front of the house. Staff members attempted to restrain her until law enforcement arrived.
“When questioned about her intentions, Ms. Harris first advised she wanted to hurt them at first, then changed her answer to wanting to try and kill them,” the affidavit states. “…She advised, ‘I think they should be dead’ and … advised she would try and kill them again if she got out.”
The three cases were pending in Jennings Circuit Court as of Tuesday morning.
