ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Tuesday, a Delta County murder trial entered its sixth day of witness testimony.
Tavaris Lee Jackson is standing trial for the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Harley Corwin. In July of 2023, Corwin’s body was found in the woods of Ford River Township. He faces charges of open murder, felony possession of a firearm at the time of the murder, and assault intentionally causing the death of a fetus.
The prosecution’s first witness Tuesday morning was forensic pathologist Anna Tart, who worked for Western Michigan University at the time of the murder. Tart testified that Corwin’s cause of death was identified as two gunshots to the head. The prosecution showed photos of Corwin’s skull, which depicted two sets of bullet wounds. While the two bullets were recovered from the scene, investigators never located the firearm that was used to commit the murder.
According to Tart, a toxicology exam showed a positive level of ethanol in Corwin’s body. While ethanol levels are sometimes a sign of alcohol in the body, Tart said they can also be a result of decompositional changes.
“This is, in this case, the most likely scenario that at least part of that positive would have come from,” said Tart. “I cannot exclude the possibility that ethanol was also consumed at or near the time of death.”
Corwin’s body was found on July 8. She was last seen on video on July 3, the day cell phone data shows both Jackson’s phone and Corwin’s phone stopping at the murder site together. Tart told the prosecution that due to the extent of decomposition that had set in by the time Corwin’s body was found, an exact date of death could not be determined.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution has called on several of Jackson’s former girlfriends, who have testified about domestic violence they say they faced at his hands. On Tuesday, the prosecution called Samantha LaFave, who had a child with Jackson and dated him for several years, to the witness stand.
LaFave described her relationship with Jackson as “push and pull,” both emotionally and physically. She testified that he threw a bowl of hot ramen noodles in her face when she was 14. She also stated that he put her into a headlock multiple times and would punch her thighs when he was upset with her.
LaFave also recalled a time when she said Jackson threatened to use a firearm.
“I told him that I didn’t want to do something, and he told me that he had a gun and he wasn’t afraid to use it,” she said.
“At the time of this conversation, you say that you were pregnant?” the prosecution asked.
LaFave answered, “Yes.”
Holly Rosen, an expert witness on domestic violence, also took the stand on Tuesday. While she could not testify on details of the trial, she was asked to explain ways domestic violence victims often act and think.
Rosen stated that it is often difficult for victims to leave their abuser. She said domestic violence can cause victims to react in ways that seem “non-intuitive.” She also testified that after reporting domestic violence, some victims later say the incident never happened.
“If there are negative consequences from that, such as with a disclosure to someone they know, that that person is pressuring them to leave—‘What is wrong with you? Why are you still in this relationship? It’s hurting the kids,'” Rosen said. “Then, there’s all this bombarding from someone you love and trust who is now judging you, and they don’t understand the full context of the abuse and that it’s not easy to just pack up and leave. Sometimes it’s easier to say, ‘It didn’t happen that way; I was making it up.’ Same with reporting. If they report it to authorities and they realize, ‘This is going to be months and months and years of court process. I have to go back to court six months later or yearly? Mm-mm. It didn’t happen. I don’t want to deal with this anymore'”
After calling Rosen to the stand, the prosecution rested. Proceedings will resume on Wednesday with the defense’s first witness.
WZMQ 19 will continue to provide coverage of the trial as it unfolds. For our previous report on the proceedings, click here.
