WISCONSIN RAPIDS − On the second day of the new trial in Wood County Circuit Court, a 59-year-old stabbing victim took the stand and again told his story of what happened the night a 56-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man was killed.
Randall E. Harris Jr., 34, of Milwaukee, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the death of his father, Randall E. Harris Sr., 56, of Wisconsin Rapids, on Oct. 31, 2025. He is also charged with recklessly endangering safety for injuries caused to the 59-year-old man.
The 59-year-old man said Oct. 30 was a good day. He said he basically stayed in his room that day. The man said he was working on tinting the windows of a man’s car in the driveway of their home when Harris Jr., who was visiting from Milwaukee, came out and yelled at him for doing it in the driveway.
The 59-year-old man said he went somewhere else to finish tinting the windows and the owner of the car brought him home when they were done. He said he forgot his cellphone in the man’s car.
The 59-year-old man said Harris Jr. suggested they put the owner of the car’s Facebook information on Harris Jr.’s phone and that way the 59-year-old man could speak with the owner of the car, who had the missing cellphone.
The 59-year-old man testified he went to bed around 11 p.m. and was awakened by a woman who was staying with him shaking him after she heard a strange noise. As he had during the original trial last week, which ended in a mistrial, the 59-year-old man talked about Harris Jr. hitting him over the head with something when the 59-year-old man went downstairs to check on Harris Sr.
The 59-year-old man again described Harris Jr. getting knives out of a kitchen drawer and attacking an 81-year-old woman in the kitchen. The man threw a microwave at Harris Jr. and the two men then began a fight that ended in the living room. The 59-year-old man said he was stabbed seven times during the fight.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Oren Jakobson pointed out some inconsistencies in the 59-year-old man’s testimony. The man had said during testimony last week he hadn’t used Harris Jr.’s phone. He said Harris Jr. had used it for him, but the messages on the phone seem to indicate that the 59-year-old man was messaging his friend with the phone shortly after midnight and again at 2:45 a.m. Oct. 31, about 15 minutes before shots were heard coming from downstairs where Harris Sr. was killed.
The 59-year-old man also reported during his Feb. 10 testimony seeing Harris Sr. “snorting cocaine from a plate” in the basement bedroom that night. This was something he hadn’t told officers in any interview and hadn’t mentioned during his testimony during the original trial.
The 59-year-old man stopped during his testimony and told Harris Jr. to “stop looking at me like that.” He turned to the jury and asked them if they had “seen that.” He then announced Harris Jr. was intimidating him. The 59-year-old man, who originally was allowed to stay in the courtroom during the trial had been ordered not to be in the courtroom after it was believed he deliberately glared at a witness during the original trial in an attempt to intimidate her.
2 women testify about events that occured the morning Harris Sr. died
The 81-year-old woman, who also lives in the house and who was stabbed twice the morning Harris Sr. was killed, also took the stand on Feb. 10. She again talked about hearing a loud noise on Oct. 31 and jumping out of bed. She said when she heard the noise a second time, she knew it was a gunshot.
The woman talked about following the 59-year-old man into the kitchen and hearing a scuffling on the stairs. She then described the fight between the 59-year-old man and Harris Jr.
The woman said she didn’t know she had been stabbed until the next day when she experienced pain and felt something wet. A son and daughter-in-law were visiting her and she asked them to check. The daughter-in-law realized the woman had been stabbed, once in the abdomen and once in the chest. She spent two days in the hospital.
Another woman who was staying with the 59-year-old man took the stand Feb. 10. She had woken up the 59-year-old man Oct. 31 when she heard strange noises, but she didn’t leave the bedroom until police arrived and told her she needed to come out.
Detective details crime scene and handgun operation
Wisconsin Rapids Police Detective David Bailey testified Feb. 10 that he responded to the scene the morning of the homicide. He said he walked through the house. He explained pictures that were taken by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab experts. In one photo, there were four tags Bailey said marked the location where four bullets had gone into the floor.
Bailey also explained how the handgun believed to be used in the shooting that night operates. He explained the safety features and how the gun will make a clicking sound if the trigger is pulled without a round in the chamber.
Contact Karen Madden kmadden@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Stabbing victim takes the stand again in new WI Rapids homicide trial
Reporting by Karen Madden, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune / Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
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