Relatives remembered Parzella Harris as kind and steady as the court sentenced her grandson to life with mercy.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Long before the March 25 sentencing of Amauri Powe, relatives of Parzella Harris had already marked the loss of a woman they described as loving, giving and central to the family she left behind.
That focus on Harris, rather than only the punishment of the person convicted of killing her, gave the hearing its force. Powe, now 16, was sentenced to life with mercy after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in Harris’ death. He was 14 when prosecutors said he stabbed and cut his grandmother 37 times inside the Huntington home they shared. State law means he must be considered for parole after 15 years, but the hearing itself turned less on the mechanics of sentencing than on what Harris’ family said had been taken from them.
Harris was 46 when she was found dead on Feb. 4, 2024, in a home on the 1900 block of 18th Street. Public records and her obituary show she lived in Huntington and worked for West Virginia Choice. An online remembrance from a co-worker said she had been with the company for 11 years. Those plain facts — a home address, a job, a funeral notice, a church service — gave the case a shape beyond the courtroom. They helped explain why relatives later described her as a source of warmth and stability. In statements summarized by prosecutors, family members said her presence brought strength to the people around her. That memory ran through the sentencing hearing as court officials and relatives spoke about the life that ended in the house where she and Powe had been living together.
Only after that human picture was established did the courtroom return to the killing itself. Prosecutors said Powe told a friend before the attack that they were going to get money from Harris. They said he then stabbed and cut her 37 times. At trial, West Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office Deputy Chief Dr. Can Metin Savasman testified that Harris suffered 37 stab wounds and cuts, along with defensive wounds, and that her death was a homicide. Trial coverage said Powe appeared visibly distraught during that testimony and would not look at photographs of her injuries. A second juvenile was also arrested in connection with the case, but prosecutors later said that matter was resolved through a deal. Reporting has not fully explained what evidence tied that second minor to the killing or what obligations remained after the agreement.
The case moved through court over nearly two years. Powe was tried as an adult, a decision prosecutors said reflected the violent nature of the crime. A jury was seated in January 2026, and after days of testimony it convicted him of first-degree murder. Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney Jason Spears said the verdict held Powe accountable for the violent loss of a mother and grandmother “at the hands of someone who should have protected her.” That language pointed to the deep breach at the center of the case: this was not a killing between strangers but one inside a family home. In that sense, the proceedings were about more than proving guilt. They were also a public retelling of how an ordinary household became the setting of a homicide.
By the time sentencing arrived, the legal options were narrow. West Virginia law requires parole eligibility for juveniles convicted as adults of first-degree murder after at least 15 years. So the question was not whether Powe would receive a life sentence, but how the court and the family would talk about it. Powe told the judge he had done a terrible and dumb thing, said he had been on drugs at the time and said he hoped to get counseling and therapy. Spears later said he did not believe the apology showed true remorse. MetroNews reported that the judge said he was granting mercy because the law required it, not because Powe deserved it. In other words, the sentence followed the statute, but the moral argument in the courtroom moved on a different track.
That difference came into sharp focus when Harris’ relatives spoke. WCHS reported that three family members addressed the court and more victim impact statements were read. Her sister, Tonya Whitfield, said she would never forgive Powe and told him he should not have done it. Those remarks did not change the sentence, but they changed the meaning of the hearing. They turned a formal court proceeding into a record of family devastation. The prosecutor’s office said numerous relatives spoke courageously about Harris’ life, recalling her generosity and the comfort she gave the family. In that account, the hearing was both a punishment phase and a memorial shaped by anger, disbelief and enduring grief.
The legal case is now closed at the trial court level, but Harris’ family remains the lasting center of the story. Powe will serve a life sentence with future parole eligibility, while the family’s next milestones are not court dates but anniversaries of a loss that relatives said they still struggle to understand.
Author note: Last updated April 17, 2026.