In a letter to a Duval County judge, Diamond Harris argues she was not at the crime scene. Police said she helped lure the victims to their deaths.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville woman accused of partaking in a scheme to murder 19-year-old Antonio Tillie for $20,000 is asking the court for “mercy.”
On Oct. 19, 2023, Tillie was taking an Uber when he arrived to the scene, where two shooters fired into the car, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said. Bryant Grund, 31, was driving the Uber — he was also killed. Police said Tillie was targeted due to “ongoing gang beef and issues” putting a price on his head.
Diamond Harris, 23, is accused of helping her boyfriend, Ju’Quan Mills, lure Tillie — and therefore Grund — to their deaths. Mills told police he earned $10,000 in the shooting (splitting the $20k with the unidentified second shooter).
At the time of Harris’s arrest, she was charged with accessory to the murders. Her arrest report says she was communicating with Tillie via texts, calls and Instagram messages up until his death. When Mills’ phone was searched, detectives found text threads between him and Harris, where they discussed what she should send to Tillie to “keep him interested in seeing her,” and bring him to the shooting location.
‘Have mercy on me’
After her arrest, Harris was allowed to be out on house arrest. But three weeks later, her charges were upgraded to two counts of second-degree murder at the request of prosecutors. Her bond was revoked and she was booked back into the Duval County Jail.
In a letter submitted to the court on Tuesday, Harris asked Duval County Judge Jonathan Sacks to allow her to return home to her 2-year-old son and her grandmother.
In the letter, she argues she is a first-time offender. “I am still confused why I’m being held on charges that I played no parts in,” she writes, adding later that she was “nowhere around or aware of the actual situation.”
“Knowing that I’m not guilty, I’m not writing you to cut off my sentence, but I am asking that you have mercy on me,” she writes. She says that being away from her son “hinders (her) mental health,” as he is questioning when she will come home.
Harris claims she was blindsided by the situation “without even knowing what was truly happening.”
She tells the judge that she used to work in the military and has “family and former military coworkers that are able and willing to speak on my character.”
She ends the letter by saying: “This is way out of my character and I’d love to show you who I truly am and why I deserve a second chance from you.”
