YAZOO CITY - District Attorney James Powell says he'll seek the death penalty against a man accused of murdering a family of three despite the admonition against capital punishment by a relative who is a Catholic priest.
Earnest Lee Hargon is jailed without bond, facing three capital murder charges. He's accused of shooting to death his cousin, Michael Hargon, and strangling Michael
Hargon's wife, Rebecca, and 4-year-old son, James Patrick.
The Hargons had been missing for two weeks before their bodies were recovered March 1 from rural Covington County, about 100 miles southeast of their home in the Vaughan community.
By then, Earnest Lee Hargon had been charged, and Powell had vowed to seek the death penalty.
During funeral services for the family last week, Rebecca Hargon's uncle, the Rev. Dan Hirtz, urged mourners to put love before hate and let Earnest Lee Hargon live rather than die by capital punishment.
"I ask you, I ask the state in your name, not to continue the cycle of violence with the killing of (Earnest Lee) Hargon, but give him many, many years to repent of this violence and this loss of his own freedom…," Hirtz said.
Powell, who tried to attend the service but couldn't get inside the crowded sanctuary, said he would not seek the death penalty if the request was made by the family.
"They have not come to me with that," Powell said. "I certainly appreciate and understand the Catholic Church's position with regard to the death penalty. My prosecution cannot be determined by the desires of the Catholic Church and will not be."
Powell said the request would have to be made by "a combination of the Hirtz and Hargon family."
Wesley Evans, the court-appointed attorney for Earnest Lee Hargon, said last week that he would file motions in advance of a preliminary hearing for his client.
Evans said no hearing date had been set, but he planned to file the motion as early as this week.
Authorities believe Earnest Lee Hargon, 43, a cattle truck driver, acted alone in killing the family. No single motive had been put forward, but there was speculation the cousin was angry at being written out of his adoptive father's will that gave Michael Hargon several acres of land in nearby Madison County.
Powell said a capital murder charge is difficult to prosecute, but evidence collected in the investigation bolstered the case. "I feel as good about prosecuting this case as any as I've ever had," Powell said.
Powell said it could be at least three months before the evidence is presented to a grand jury.
Alexander and other relatives said they were ready to put the tragedy behind them.
"The next family gathering without them is going to be horrible," said Kim Richardson, Michael Hargon's cousin. "It's never going to be the same."
Family members describe Michael Hargon, who worked for a construction company, as a caring man who often put others before himself. "If this was going on with another family, Michael would have been there from the very beginning," Alexander said.
Rebecca Hargon worked as an assistant physical therapist, Alexander said.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
