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COLLEEN HARRIS
Colleen Harris, the woman accused of killing her husband, Bob Harris, in an incident eerily similar to one she was on trial for in 1985, appeared in court on Wednesday for an arraignment hearing.
Dain Weiner, standing in for his father David, was granted a continuance on the hearing as his father was not present. Harris’ hearing will now take place on Jan. 16 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 7.
Harris, 70, has been on trial for murder before, after she called El Dorado County Sheriff’s dispatch in 1985 to inform them that her husband, James Batten, was dead. During the trial, she claimed she had amnesia and that Batten had sexually assaulted both her and her daughter from her first husband. She was found not guilty by a jury of nine women and three men.
Both men were found shot on the same property after, Harris claimed, there had been disputes.
Bob Harris was remembered for his career in the National Forests, wrote Don Lane of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Frank Mosbacher of the Eldorado National Forest and Ann Westling of the Tahoe National Forest. He served as a Forest Engineer in the Tahoe National Forest from 1975-1983, directing the 75 people of the engineering unit; Forest Supervisor of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit from 1988-1997; and in the late 1990s served as Acting Eldorado National Forest Supervisor. In his free time, he was an umpire for high school baseball.
“One of his accomplishments for which he was most proud was the completion of the bridge over Love’s Falls in Sierra County along the Pacific Crest Trail,” the three wrote in a joint e-mail. “Bob’s efforts were the precursor of the present federal advisory group for the Tahoe Basin. He was also instrumental in helping to secure the first funding for Environmental Improvement Programs (EIP) in 1997 following President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore’s visit to the Lake Tahoe basin.”
Harris was also involved in the Lake Tahoe-Lake Baikal program, which paired the local lake with a lake in Russia. He spent the past summer, the three wrote, “teaching ecological programs to youth at Lake Baikal.”
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