Pay Up on the Dolphins

Warren County, Mississippi, 20 January 1985, the night the 49ers beat the Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX. A crowd gathered at Henrietta's Cafe (also called the Washington Cafe). Johnny Jenkins, 24, had backed Miami; George 'Joe' Harris, also 24, who worked at Anderson-Tully, had backed San Francisco and demanded that Jenkins pay up. Jenkins said he had never bet with Harris, or that he had won. The two fought inside the cafe and were pulled apart; some State witnesses said Harris pulled a knife (others never saw one), Jenkins was said to have a pistol, and Harris left making threats. Outside, the argument over the unpaid bet resumed. Witnesses disagreed about what came next. The State's version was that Jenkins charged at Harris and tried to kick him, and Harris fired a .22 pistol three times, hitting Jenkins twice in the chest and once in the stomach; Jenkins died in hospital. Harris said he fired to protect himself because Jenkins had threatened him with a gun earlier and was attacking him again. Eight witnesses testified for the State and six for the defence. Harris was tried for murder in the Circuit Court of Warren County, and the judge let the jury consider murder, manslaughter and self-defence. On appeal Harris argued the evidence showed at most manslaughter and that the judge had wrongly cut off his lawyer's voir dire questions about self-defence.