The 51-year-old defendant in the Golden-area RV murder case and his attorneys are making final preparations for his two-week trial in late July.
Donald Harris has pleaded not guilty to murdering Matthew Hire, 57, who was found dead of a gunshot wound in his own RV last spring.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigators believe Hire was killed in late March 2023, but his body wasn’t found until mid-April when a deputy found his RV door swinging open in the Golden-area Wooly Mammoth Park-N-Ride lot.
Harris — an acquaintance of Hire’s — has been charged with first-degree murder, a felony charge of possession of a weapon by a previous offender, and two sentence enhancers.
Harris, who’s in custody in Denver for a separate case, had a $2 million cash-only bond set in the murder case.
On April 22, Harris appeared at the Jefferson County Courthouse for a daylong motions hearing, where his defense team argued for several provisions before his July 23-Aug. 2 trial dates.
Among them was a motion against livestreaming either the April 22 motions hearing or the jury trial on the Colorado courts website. Harris’ defense attorneys said, with almost 100 witnesses expected at the trial, they wanted to ensure the witnesses’ sequestration during the proceedings and protect Harris’ right to due process.
Judge Jason Carrithers granted the motion, saying there’s no way to tell who, if anyone, is watching via livestream. However, he emphasized, the public can still attend Harris’ court dates in person at the courthouse or by logging into WebEx, where they must enter a name that the prosecution and defense can crosscheck.
The parties spent several hours reviewing the defense’s other motions, such as whether any of Harris’ statements to law enforcement would be admissible in court and how much time both sides would have for jury selection. Carrithers denied several of them, but some were left undecided.
He scheduled Harris for a pretrial readiness conference at 1 p.m. July 15 at the Jefferson County Courthouse, where the parties can review any outstanding matters before the trial dates. He also placed a July 12 deadline for both sides to finalize their lists of witnesses and exhibits.
Harris’ trial is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. July 23 at the courthouse.
With almost 100 witnesses in the case and a significant amount of physical evidence to review, the prosecutors told Carrithers, “This trial is going to be interesting.”
History of the case
During Harris’ Aug. 11 preliminary hearing, Jeffco Sheriff’s Office investigators testified how, on the night of March 25, 2023, Hire’s RV was parked outside the Golden hotel where Harris and his girlfriend were staying. Harris and Hire were in the RV, and Harris reportedly didn’t come back to the hotel room that night and didn’t answer his phone.
The next morning, the RV was gone and Harris wouldn’t tell his girlfriend where he’d been, the investigators said.
Harris’ girlfriend later told investigators how, before Hire’s death, she’d overheard Harris and another friend talk about having access to Hire’s money and how they were going to “rip him off.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, cell phone data showed both Harris and Hire’s phones were at the Wooly Mammoth lot between 3-3:30 p.m. March 26.
However, a few hours later, a Golden Police Department officer contacted Harris at the Golden Home Depot and arrested him on outstanding warrants in Denver.
After Hire’s body was found inside the RV on April 14, 2023, JCSO investigators examined the items Harris had when he was arrested and found a jacket with Hire’s blood on it. Harris also had Hire’s cell phone and keys to storage containers inside Hire’s RV.
Investigators also reviewed messages Harris sent and received while he was in jail, where he reportedly coordinated with friends to hide evidence, such as the RV itself and his girlfriend’s Jeep.
In searching the Jeep, investigators found a .22-caliber revolver that’s believed to be the murder weapon. It had a single fired shot in it, which matched the bullet fragments found in Hire’s body. The revolver also had Hire and Harris’ DNA on it, investigators stated.
During the Aug. 11 preliminary hearing, Harris’ defense attorneys contested the first-degree murder charge, saying there was little to no indication of any premeditation or physical evidence the homicide took place in the RV.
JCSO investigators confirmed there was no visible blood spatter, and all the tested surfaces were negative for blood. There also wasn’t anything to indicate a gun had been fired in the RV, or that the RV had been cleaned, the defense argued.
“There’s no evidence this homicide even happened in Jefferson County,” one of Harris’ attorneys said. “ … (The prosecution) hasn’t presented any evidence as to where the homicide might have occurred.”