Court Upholds Murder Conviction in Culver City Armory Death

A state appellate court panel Tuesday upheld military veteran Scott Allen Ansman's 2009 conviction of murder in the death of Jo Ann Harris and her 16-week-old fetus at the California Army National Guard Armory in Culver City.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal
found that Ansman "mercilessly struck" Harris with a baseball bat, killing her and her fetus on Aug. 24, 2007.

In a 41-page ruling, the appellate court justices found that the evidence of Ansman's guilt was "overwhelming.''

"The evidence portrays the defendant as a desperate man consumed with guilt at the prospect of losing his family after cheating on his wife and believing, albeit incorrectly, that his sexual tryst with Harris resulted in her pregnancy,'' Associate Justice Frank Y. Jackson wrote on behalf of the panel. "The defendant hoped that Harris would have an abortion, but she decided otherwise, causing him to be consumed with worry.''

The appellate court panel noted that Ansman's co-workers recounted
conversations in which he inquired about hiring a hitman and vowed that no one would come between his family and him.

The U.S. Army veteran, who was a supply sergeant at the armory,
called 911 from the armory and claimed that he had beaten Harris with a baseball bat after she pepper-sprayed him. He told investigators that Harris had also tried to stab him after he swung the baseball bat at her.

Martha Lou Harris, Jo Ann's mother, sued Ansman, the Army National Guard and the state of California, alleging her daughter's death could have been prevented if officials had investigated a claim that the sergeant had wanted to kill Harris and her unborn child.

Harris was pregnant with a baby boy she had claimed Ansman fathered. DNA testing later revealed Ansman was not the baby's father.

In 2009, Ansman was sentenced to life in prison without parole. 

City News Service contributed to this report.