Witness testimony begins in criminal proceedings against the couple accused of killing a woman and accusing a man

Prosecution testimony began Monday in the sentencing trial of a Jurupa Valley man and his nephew who were charged with killing the man's estranged wife and then framing her friend for the murder, which sent him to prison for nearly two decades.

Googie Rene Harris Sr., 67, and Joaquin L. Leal, 58, were found guilty Thursday afternoon of first-degree murder and a charge of lying in wait under special circumstances. The jury in Riverside also found true the charge of murder for financial gain against Harris in connection with the 1998 killing of 33-year-old Terry Cheek.

The jury met behind closed doors for only a few hours before returning with its unanimous verdict.

Judge Bernard Schwartz of Riverside County Superior Court dismissed the jury on Friday and told jurors to return to the Riverside Hall of Justice on Monday, where prosecutors were scheduled to call their first witnesses in the penalty phase of the trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Harris Sr. and Leal.

Harris' son, Googie Rene Harris Jr., 45, of Palm Desert, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting murder in February 2020. He is free on bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 26.

Harris and Leal are both being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.

According to a trial report from the prosecution, Harris Sr. and Cheek were involved in a divorce, and the proceedings reached an impasse because negotiations over the sale of the house they had bought together on Lindsey Street in Jurupa Valley had broken down.

The defendant and the victim had a son together, and Cheek had two young daughters from a previous marriage, while Harris had his adult son.

After separating from Harris Sr., Cheek began a romantic relationship with a co-worker, Horace Roberts of Temecula. She continued to live in the house she and her estranged husband had purchased together, sleeping in a separate room.

Harris Sr. called the property his “dream home” and didn't want to lose it in the divorce, court documents say. The defendant began confiding in Leal, noting that Cheek “tried to take everything” and that he wanted her “out of the way,” the complaint says.

Leal, who had a previous conviction for sexual assault, showed understanding.

Harris Sr. began to scheme and eventually involved Leal and Googie Harris Jr. in the murder plan, which he put into action on the night of April 14, 1998.

After the victim said goodbye to her son and daughters to go to work, she went into the hallway that connects the garage and the house to drive Roberts' pickup truck, which he had lent her when her own car broke down.

As she entered the dark room, Leal grabbed her from behind, and Harris Sr. rushed over and joined him in strangling Cheek, who was able to scratch and bite the defendant, court documents say. Harris Jr. was standing in the driveway but turned around because he “did not want to watch his stepmother get killed,” the complaint says.

Harris Jr. was driving Roberts' pickup truck with his dead stepmother beside him on Interstate 15 south into the Temescal Valley, where he became agitated and took an exit toward Lake Corona. Leal followed in his vehicle.

The men pulled the body from the pickup and dumped it near the lake. They then drove away in Leal's car, leaving Robert's pickup on the side of the highway. The remains were found along with the pickup three days later, and sheriff's investigators interviewed Harris Sr., who told them, “Terry was driving her own car and was planning to meet Horace to drive to work together that evening,” the filing states.

Investigators turned their attention to Roberts, suspecting that, despite repeated denials and alibis, he had gotten into an argument with Cheek and killed her. There were two criminal trials in which the jury could not reach a consensus. A panel wrongfully convicted him of murder in 1999. Harris Sr. testified for the prosecution in all three trials.

Attorneys from the San Diego-based Innocence Project accepted Roberts' appeals, but the process of re-examining DNA evidence collected from Cheeks' body dragged on for years. In 2018, there was a successful re-analysis of her fingernails and stains on her jeans.

Witness testimony begins in criminal proceedings against the couple accused of killing a woman and accusing a man

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