A two-year path through investigation, autopsy testimony, conviction and sentencing ended with life with mercy for Amauri Powe.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The prosecution of Amauri Powe followed a long arc from a Feb. 4, 2024, homicide investigation on 18th Street to a March 25, 2026, sentence of life with mercy for the killing of his grandmother, Parzella Harris.
What set the case apart, according to prosecutors and local court coverage, was not only the family relationship between the victim and the defendant but the sequence of evidence that shaped the result. Police said Harris, 46, was found dead in a Huntington home. By the time the case reached trial, prosecutors had built a narrative around the shared home, a statement about getting money from Harris, autopsy findings of 37 wounds and a sentencing law that limited how the court could punish a juvenile convicted as an adult.
The first public stage came on the afternoon Harris’ death was announced as a homicide. Huntington police said the 46-year-old woman had been found dead at a home in the 1900 block of 18th Street around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. Police Chief Phil Watkins said there was no threat to the public. Investigators later identified a juvenile suspect and charged that person with first-degree murder. A second juvenile was also charged days later. At that point, little had been released about motive, role allocation or the sequence inside the house. What was clear was the location, the victim’s identity and the seriousness of the charge.
The next major stage came when prosecutors laid out their theory in open court. Once a jury was seated in January 2026, they said Powe and Harris lived together and that he had allegedly told a friend they were going to get money from her when the attack occurred. They said Harris was stabbed 37 times. The state also called a Huntington police officer and a forensic investigator to testify. The most detailed medical evidence came from Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Can Metin Savasman, who reviewed the autopsy and said Harris suffered 37 stab wounds and cuts, along with defensive wounds. He ruled the death a homicide. WCHS reported that Powe appeared visibly distraught during this testimony and would not look at photos of Harris’ injuries.
That evidence helped answer some questions while leaving others open. The autopsy testimony established the violence of the attack and suggested Harris tried to defend herself. Prosecutors’ account of Powe’s remark about getting money from Harris pointed toward a possible financial motive. But public reports still leave uncertainty about the exact role of the second juvenile and about how the confrontation inside the house began. WCHS said prosecutors disclosed only that the second minor’s case had been resolved through a deal. No detailed public narrative has been widely reported about whether that person was present during the fatal attack, helped before or after it, or agreed to testify. Those gaps mattered less to the jury once it focused on Powe’s own conduct, but they remain part of the public record’s unfinished edges.
The jury convicted Powe of first-degree murder on Jan. 23, 2026. Prosecutor Jason Spears said afterward that the verdict held him fully accountable. That finding moved the case into a sentencing phase governed by West Virginia’s rules for juveniles tried as adults. Under state law, a juvenile convicted of first-degree murder cannot be sentenced to life without any chance of parole and must receive parole eligibility after serving at least 15 years. So even before the March hearing began, the outer framework was set: Powe faced a life sentence with the possibility of future parole review. MetroNews later reported that the judge made clear the mercy component came from the statute, not from a belief that Powe had earned leniency.
At sentencing, the record widened beyond forensic detail. Powe told the court he had done a terrible, dumb thing. According to local reports, he said he had been using drugs at the time and hoped for counseling and therapy. Family members of Harris sat in the courtroom as those remarks were made. Three relatives spoke in person, and additional victim impact statements were read. Tonya Whitfield, Harris’ sister, told Powe she would never forgive him. Prosecutors also described Harris as a kind and giving grandmother. Outside court, Spears said he saw little genuine remorse and called the crime one of the most gruesome murders of his career.
That leaves the case with a clear legal endpoint and a distant next step. Powe has been sentenced. Harris has been publicly remembered in court, in an obituary and by those who knew her. The next major procedural event would arise only if Powe one day reaches parole eligibility after 15 years and asks the state to consider his release.
Author note: Last updated April 17, 2026.