Mitchell's fate in jury's hands

At about 6 tonight, the jury in the David Winfield Mitchell murder trial was released to begin deliberations in the 1982 death of Sheila Jo Harris.

Following only two defense witnesses and closing arguments today, Judge Todd Russell told the four-woman and eight-man jury that he'd ordered dinner for them and they could begin deliberations. Russell encouraged them to work into the night and didn't set a time limit for them to end for the evening.

Mitchell, now 62, is accused of the beating, rape and strangulation killing of Sheila Harris, 18, a Gardnerville teen and former Miss Douglas County who'd just moved into a Lompa Lane apartment with her sites set on competing for the title of Miss Carson City.

Her battered body was discovered Jan. 6, 1982, by her mother and a family friend.

Mitchell, the groundskeeper at the apartment complex where Harris lived, was a suspect, but charges filed against him were eventually dropped for lack of evidence.

In 1999, semen found on Harris' clothing and body was compared to samples of blood obtained from Mitchell and, according to Washoe County criminalists, they were a match.

The defense suggested it wasn't Mitchell who killed Harris, but former boyfriend Steven Furlong who was arrested a month later for lewdness outside a Reno photolab and who hanged himself in jail three days later.

Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.