Bio 

Curtis Paul Harris was born on August 31, 1961. By December 1978, Harris was 17 years old and living in the Bryan, Texas, area. He was with his older brother, Danny Ray Harris, his girlfriend Valerie Rencher, and James Manuel on the night of the crime.

Because Harris was a juvenile at the time of the offense, his case later became part of broader criticism over the execution of people who were under 18 when they committed their crimes. Amnesty International noted that his execution went against international standards prohibiting the death penalty for juvenile offenders.

Murder Story

On the night of December 11, 1978, Curtis Paul Harris, his brother Danny Ray Harris, James Manuel, and Valerie Rencher drove to Bryan, Texas, to visit a friend. When they arrived, the friend was not home, and their car would not start. The group became frustrated with the broken-down vehicle. They damaged the car’s interior and then walked down the road to seek help. 

Timothy Michael Merka, a 27-year-old Texas A&M University employee, stopped his pickup truck to assist them. He spent about 20 to 25 minutes trying to repair their car. When the vehicle still would not start, the group decided to steal Merka’s truck.

According to court records, Danny Harris pushed Merka down and held him to the ground. While Danny sat on Merka’s chest, Curtis Harris struck Merka repeatedly in the head with an automobile jack. Valerie Rencher later testified that she begged Curtis to stop, but he continued hitting Merka.

Merka suffered severe head and brain injuries, including multiple head lacerations consistent with blows from a bumper jack shaft and ratchet mechanism. He died from those injuries. After the attack, the group left Merka’s body in a ditch, stole his pickup truck and shotgun, and drove to a U-Totem store in Waller, Texas. There, they robbed the store at gunpoint, using Merka’s shotgun.

Merka’s truck was later found in Bryan, a few blocks from the Harris home. Investigators also recovered several of Merka’s belongings, including his Texas A&M identification card, gun case, and payment book, in woods behind the Harris residence.

Harris was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His first conviction was reversed in 1982 because of improper restrictions on cross-examination. He was retried, again convicted, and sentenced to death in 1983. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction, and later state and federal appeals were unsuccessful. Curtis Paul Harris was executed by lethal injection in Texas on July 1, 1993. He was 31 years old.