Man on Trial for Killing Second Family

Oct. 24, 2000 -- A former Detroit police officer found innocent by reason of insanity for killing his first family 25 years ago is on trial again, charged with killing his second wife and 3-year-old son.

Paul Harrington allegedly borrowed a gun from a neighbor Oct. 14, 1999, the night before the killings, then shot his 45-year-old wife, Wanda, and son Brian in the head at point-blank range after sending his older son off to school.

Prosecutors argued in opening statements of the first-degree murder trial Monday that Harrington, 54, made a deliberate decision to kill his family and calmly confessed the crime to a 911 operator.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Elizondo said Harrington’s decision to borrow the weapon the night before proved premeditation.

Elizondo said Harrington even told the 911 operator that he sent his teenage son, Paul Jr., to school because “he’s too big ... I didn’t want to wrestle him.”

Harrington, who has again pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, talked to the operator for about 10 minutes. The recorded call was played back to the Circuit Court jury Monday.

“He thought about this, he had some time to weigh it,” Elizondo said.

Disturbing to the Soul Defense attorney W. Frederick Moore argued that the details of the crime “will disturb you to your soul,” but said nevertheless Harrington is legally insane.

The ex-officer committed an almost identical crime in 1975, when he shot his wife and two daughters with his service revolver then turned himself in to police. He was found innocent by reason of insanity and spent two months in a psychiatric institution.

Moore blamed his client’s psychiatric instability in part from his traumatic Vietnam War experiences. Harrington told a psychiatrist years ago that he killed a Vietnamese mother and four children by mistake.

“The demons were torturing him,” Moore said.

‘Things Just Wasn’t Working Out’ Harrington sounded subdued on the 911 tape made shortly after the shootings.

“Things just wasn’t working out,” Harrington said. “Everything’s just gone to hell. I just don’t know what to do anymore ... I loved my kids. I loved them. I just couldn’t take care of them anymore.”

Harrington sat almost immobile during the testimony, as a television displayed several photographs of the crime scene. One photo showed his wife and son, both shot in the head, on opposite ends of the couch. Another showed blood stains in the dining room near a Hot Wheels toy garage and cars. Harrington said he shot Brian as he played with the toys, then carried him to the couch and shot him again.

In a hearing on the case last January, police testified that Harrington confessed to the killing and said he should have been “put away” in 1975 for killing his first wife, Becky, 28, and his daughters Pamela, 9, and Cassandra, 4. Police said the couple had recently separated when he killed the three with his police service revolver.

He was committed for psychiatric evaluation at a state facility but was released after just two months of treatment, according to records. Police at Harrington’s hearing said he told them he had been fired as a steelworker, had run out of money and medication for depression , and “just couldn’t handle any more” when he decided to kill his new family. The Associated Press contributed to this report