A 27-year-old mother accused of killing her husband and their 3-year-old son at Great Wolf Lodge could potentially face the death penalty, according to a private investigator.
Metallica Rose Harrison remains jailed in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Prosecutors allege that she used kitchen knives, which she reportedly brought with her from home, to fatally stab her husband, Charles “Chaz” Harrison, 36, and their son, Tristan.
Harrison is scheduled to appear in court next month.
Metallica Harrison, 27, faces murder charges after prosecutors say she stabbed and killed her husband and the couple’s 3-year-old son at the Great Wolf Lodge in Pennsylvania’s Poconos region. (Pocono Township Police Department; Great Wolf Lodge; Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
Rod Devine, a Lehigh Valley-based private investigator, said the case could qualify for a capital punishment prosecution.
Devine has interviewed convicted killers in jail and has served as an expert witness for criminal defense attorneys in several cases.
Police say Chaz and his young son were discovered with fatal stab wounds inside their room at Great Wolf Lodge. (Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
Pennsylvania law requires specific conditions to be met before prosecutors can pursue the death penalty, Devine said. The Keystone State continues to allow death sentences for certain murder convictions.
Under state law, a defendant must be convicted of first-degree murder and the case must include what is known as a “statutory aggravating circumstance” before a death sentence can be imposed.
Devine previously told News Outlet that the alleged killings appeared to have been planned, a circumstance that could support a first-degree murder charge.
Family members remembered Chaz Harrison as a devoted father and husband, with one relative writing that his “whole life was centered around his wife and child.” (Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
“The other component is that there’s a 3-year-old child that was killed,” Devine said.
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A victim younger than 12 is considered a statutory aggravating circumstance under Pennsylvania law.
Even if those legal standards are met, however, the larger question is whether Harrison would ever be executed. The likelihood is considered low.
Metallica Rose Harrison, 27, is charged in connection with the deaths of her husband and their young son, whom investigators say she stabbed. (Facebook/Meta: Metallicarose Harrison)
Although Pennsylvania still lists the death penalty as a possible punishment, a conviction and death sentence would not necessarily lead to an execution. The state has maintained a gubernatorial moratorium on executions for more than a decade.
Devine said it is also too early to predict the outcome without knowing how Harrison’s defense team plans to approach the case.
Before discussing a possible sentence, he said, it is important to consider the defense strategy and the evidence attorneys may present.
Metallica Rose Harrison had been married to Chaz Harrison for three years before she allegedly killed him in the Great Wolf Lodge room. (Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
“As a defense, working with defense counsel, what they would probably be looking at in something like this would be mitigating circumstances.”
One of those being “mental illness,” he said.
“There’s also speculation that possibly the husband could have been part of a murder-suicide,” he said.
He went on to say the possible plot may have been “botched on her end.”
Harrison is now scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 3.
News Outlet reached out to the governor’s office and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
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