‘I did love my son.’ Father sentenced to up to 10 years for killing his 8-year-old boy
A Durham man will serve up to 10 years in prison in the 2016 death of his 8-year-old son.
Thomas Lee Harrison, 35, pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter and child abuse inflicting serious injury on his son, Jonathan Miles Pittman, who was also known as J and MileMile, according to his obituary.
Under a plea deal, Harrison was sentenced to seven to 10 years, minus the 236 days he has already spent in jail.
Jonathan was found unresponsive in his Wake County home just before midnight March 27, 2016 after experiencing nausea and vomiting. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next day.
A medical examiner’s report indicated he died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen.
Statements in court alleged Harrison beat his son and didn’t take him for medical attention or tell his mother despite severe vomiting in the hours that followed.
“We have no illusions that what we enter today is justice because there is no such thing as justice in this case,” Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn said.
Overnight stay
In March 2016, Harrison, who served in the U.S. Navy for eight years, had moved to Durham and asked to keep Jonathan for his first overnight stay with his father, Montgomery-Blinn said.
Harrison, who has no criminal history, attended UNC-Chapel Hill and received a degree in psychology in 2015.
Jonathan had told people at his school that he was afraid of his dad. His mother’s family thought the boy’s father was too strict with Jonathan, “but nobody suspected that anything like this could possibly happen,” the prosecutor said.
On March 26, 2016, Harrison took his son to a family birthday party and back to his Durham apartment.
Harrison told Jonathan not to touch his video game system, the prosecutor said. Jonathan did and lied about his grades to his father.
“So Thomas Harrison beat Jonathan with a belt,” Montgomery-Blinn said. Harrison told investigators that when his son moved to get away from the belt, he hit him in the stomach causing him to fall to the ground.
After the beating, Harrison ordered pizza and wings for dinner, but Jonathan wasn’t able to eat much, the prosecutor said.
He complained of stomach pain and threw up about 20 times, but his father thought it had to do with his son’s acid reflux.
Harrison then took his son to the home of a friend to watch basketball, and the 8-year-old lay on the floor and looked tired and ill, vomiting twice during the game.
“Little Jonathan apologized and cleaned up his own vomit,” Montgomery-Blinn said .
Jonathan continued vomiting throughout the night and the next day.
“Thomas Harrison admitted that he hit him again because he was fidgeting and he missed the trash can with his vomit,” the prosecutor said
Around 6 p.m. Harrison brought Jonathan home to his mother, who lived in Wake County.
As they walked into the door, Jonathan collapsed, and his father said he was faking it and didn’t share any information about his prolonged vomiting.
His mother went to the store to buy Pedialyte, and Harrison stayed with him and pushed him again, Montgomery-Blinn said.
After Harrison left, Jonathan urinated on himself and stopped breathing and was taken to the hospital, where he died at 11:56 p.m. March 27, 2016.
Death ruled a homicide
At the hospital, medical staff saw bruises on Jonathan’s thighs, arms and buttocks and black spots on the whites of his eyes.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide and indicated early intervention could have made a difference, the prosecutor said.
Jonathan’s grandmother, Delphine Pittman, said Jonathan was loving, kind, outgoing and smart.
“It was as if God had wrapped an angel and sent it down to us,” she said.
Jonathan and Harrison shared a love of video games, Pittman said, but instead of playing together Harrison abused his son for touching his father’s toys.
“Instead of love, Thomas gave him physical and emotional pain, fear, terror and uncertainty, “ she said. “Now I will never feel Jonathan’s loving hugs again, see his smile or enjoy his company.”
Harrison apologized to his family, Jonathan’s mother and her family. He didn’t intentionally try to harm him, he said.
“I just want it to be known that I did love my son, “ he said.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 5:31 PM.
