Feb 20, 2003 By Jennifer Harr 2 min read

A Uniontown man convicted of burglary and simple assault was sentenced to four to 10 years in a state prison, to be served consecutively with a parole violation in an earlier voluntary manslaughter case. Eric Harris, 33, of 40 Thomas St. appeared before Fayette County Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi for sentencing Wednesday. Harris was convicted of two crimes earlier this month but acquitted of several other serious counts.

He was charged with kidnapping three children and forcing his ex-girlfriend to drive him around the city at gunpoint. Jurors apparently did not believe that he terrorized the children, one of the primary elements for kidnapping. They also found Harris not guilty of illegally possessing a gun, something he is prohibited from doing because of his manslaughter conviction.

While jurors did not hear about that earlier conviction, they did hear both from Harris and his former girlfriend, Tawana Mills.

Mills testified that Harris kicked in the door to her mother’s home and then assaulted her. Harris told the jury he went to Mills’ mother’s home expecting that Mills would give him a ride to his cousin’s house, like she had promised earlier.

When she refused to do so and then hit him with the door as he left, Harris testified, he “lost it” and pushed her down, hitting her and kicking her.

But, while Mills testified that Harris pulled out a gun and demanded that she rouse her two children and the nephew she was watching, Harris testified he did not have a weapon and Mills willingly woke up the children to drive him around.

Harris’ attorney, Assistant Public Defender David Kaiser, told jurors that they should convict Harris of simple assault because he admitted it, but he successfully asked the jury to acquit him of three counts of kidnapping and one count each of aggravated assault, firearms not be carried without a license and persons not to possess firearms.

Before Harris begins serving his sentence in this case, he first must complete his sentence for the 1995 shooting death of Henry Wilson. Harris was on parole for that conviction when he was charged with attacking Mills.

His parole was revoked in the shooting case, and Harris is serving out the remaining time on the two- to 10 year sentence for killing Wilson.