Rondell Harris Sentenced for Akron Cold-Case Murder

Rondell Harris is the Ohio man who confessed to the 2016 cold-case murder of Damon Harris Jr. outside an Akron barbershop and, on June 30, 2025, was sentenced to 24 years to life in prison for the killing. Judge Tammy O’Brien of Summit County Common Pleas Court ordered that term to run consecutively to the 26-to-31½-year sentence Harris was already serving for the 2022 rape of a Mahoning County sheriff’s deputy inside the county jail. He will not be eligible for parole until August 24, 2073, when he will be 84.¹

The 2016 Killing Outside Classic Cuts Barber Shop

On the afternoon of March 8, 2016, Damon Harris Jr., two months short of his 25th birthday, was shot and killed outside Classic Cuts Barber and Beauty World in the 800 block of Copley Road in Akron.² According to the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office, Rondell Harris had gone to the barbershop that day intending to commit a robbery. He spotted Damon outside, lured him to his vehicle, and tried to rob him at gunpoint. When Damon tried to flee, Harris shot him once in the back with a shotgun.³

Damon collapsed in the parking lot and was taken to Akron City Hospital, where he died. A witness reported hearing two or three gunshots and saw two men fleeing. It was the seventh homicide in Akron that year. Police had no suspects, and the case went cold.²

How the Cold Case Was Solved

The break came in 2022, while Harris was in custody on the Mahoning County jail rape charges. He confessed to killing Damon Harris Jr. and, according to prosecutors, provided details only someone involved in the crime would have known. He followed up with letters to the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office, the Summit County Court of Common Pleas, and the Akron Police Department, all admitting to the killing.³

The confession was essentially the whole case. Six years after the shooting, investigators still had no forensic evidence, no eyewitness who could identify the shooter, and no recovered weapon.⁴ A Summit County grand jury indicted Harris on murder with a three-year firearm specification, aggravated robbery with a three-year firearm specification, and having weapons while under disability.³

The Trial and Mid-Trial Guilty Plea

Harris went to trial before Judge Tammy O’Brien in June 2025. His attorneys, Joseph Gorman and Seneca Konturas, argued that he had confessed to a crime he did not commit. Prosecutors leaned on the confession itself. The jury heard a roughly 40-minute recording of Harris’s interview with Akron police Detective Bertina King, who testified that the account was “very detailed” and that specific points, including what Damon was wearing and what he did after being shot, lined up with the existing evidence.⁴

Right after the recording finished, while Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Ben Carro was questioning a witness, Harris raised his hand and told Judge O’Brien he wanted to end the trial. After a brief consultation with his lawyers, he pleaded guilty on June 25, 2025, to all three charges and both firearm specifications. Addressing the court, he said: “I did it alone. I acted alone. I committed the murder. The only regret that I have is that I didn’t shoot him in the head.”⁴

The Sentence

Five days later, on June 30, 2025, Judge O’Brien sentenced Harris to 24 years to life. The term runs consecutively to the 26-to-31½-year sentence he was already serving out of Mahoning County. He was designated a violent offender and, if ever released, must register annually with the local sheriff’s office for 10 years.⁵

After the sentence was read, Harris leaned across the defense table and spat at Assistant Prosecutor Carro. Deputies handcuffed and restrained him.⁶ Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich said in a statement: “Damon’s family has waited nearly a decade for answers about the loss of their loved one. While nothing can bring Damon back, I hope this sentence offers them a measure of peace as they continue their journey of healing.”⁵

Harris, 36, is now housed at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. State corrections records list his parole eligibility date as August 24, 2073, with a parole hearing scheduled for July of that year.¹

The Jail Rape That Put Harris in Custody

The reason Harris was in a position to confess in 2022, and the reason his murder sentence runs consecutively rather than concurrently, traces to an attack inside the Mahoning County Jail. On May 5, 2022, Harris pulled a female sheriff’s deputy into his cell after she approached to collect a food tray and hair clippers he had refused to return. According to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, he assaulted, strangled, and raped her.⁷

In May 2023, just before trial, Harris pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to rape, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and disrupting public services. Judge Anthony D’Apolito sentenced him to 26 to 31½ years and ordered him to register as a Tier 3 sex offender and a violent offender.⁷ Stacked on top of the Summit County murder sentence, that combined term is what pushes his first parole opportunity out to 2073.

1
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Offender Search: Rondell Harris (A794813)
2
Cleveland.com. Man Found Dead in Akron Barber Shop Parking Lot
3
Summit County Prosecutor’s Office. Rondell Harris Conviction Press Release
4
Akron Beacon Journal. Rondell Harris Pleads Guilty, Confesses to Killing Damon Harris
5
Summit County Prosecutor’s Office. Rondell Harris Sentencing Press Release
6
Akron Beacon Journal. Rondell Harris Sentenced to Life for Killing Damon Harris of Akron
7
Ohio Attorney General. Mahoning County Inmate Sentenced in Jail Rape