PERSPECTIVES ON THE HARRIS CASE : The Murderer Is Not the Victim : Last-ditch attempts to win sympathy insult the truth: that two boys were killed, and the killer must pay with his life.

Fourteen years ago, my teen-age son Michael Baker and his friend John Mayeski were kidnaped and murdered by Robert Alton Harris. But, as I was recently reminded by a member of the press, Michael and John are no longer the story. Robert Alton Harris is the story.

Harris, a convicted murderer, has been awarded victim status by those who oppose the death penalty. They view him not as a murderer but as a media opportunity. He has become the perfect vehicle to promote particular causes and political agendas. As such, he is being given a media campaign worthy of a presidential hopeful.

Most recently, Harris’ defenders sent Gov. Pete Wilson a slick videotaped documentary in hopes of obtaining a clemency reprieve. It is a professional production, complete with celebrity narrator, medical experts and a childhood photo of Harris. No opportunity has been lost to distance the image of Harris the criminal from that of Harris the helpless victim.

For me, this last-minute publicity campaign is only the latest chapter in a 14-year saga of personal pain and grief--a long nightmare that began the day I arrested Robert Alton Harris as a bank robbery suspect, and later learned that he was suspected of the kidnap and murder of my own son and his friend.

I do not know if this story will have a different ending than the one that families of murder victims have come to expect. Perhaps, after 14 years of appeals and delays, Harris will be held unaccountable for his unspeakable acts that cut short the lives of Michael and John and changed forever the lives of those they left behind. The final chapter has not been written.

But I do know that Harris has been afforded every possible opportunity available to show that he should not be held accountable for his actions--and for 14 years, he and his lawyers have been unable to do so. Last-ditch attempts to gain sympathy for him by tying his case to emotional issues of the day, such as child abuse and fetal alcohol syndrome, do not change the grim events of 14 years ago.

Those who argue that capital punishment is not a deterrent to crime miss the point. The purpose of this execution is not to send a message to other criminals, or to win an election or to promote a point of view. The purpose is to punish one man for the brutal killing of two boys. No more and no less.

Somewhere along the way, the criminal justice system lost sight of its fundamental responsibility to punish those who break the law. As a police officer, working with violent criminals and their victims on a daily basis, I find it difficult to comprehend how such a situation has been allowed to continue.

And I find it more and more difficult to explain to crime victims that a criminal sentenced to 10 years in prison is likely to be back on the streets in three.

I do not believe that life imprisonment is an appropriate punishment for murderers like Harris. While in prison, Harris has been relieved of all responsibility and has lived in relative comfort. While California’s homeless have been forced to shift for themselves, taking refuge in abandoned buildings and cardboard boxes, Harris has had a place to sleep, nutritious meals and even access to cable television. While many of California’s working people have been forced to go without health insurance, Harris has received medical treatment free of charge. And while more and more Californians lose their jobs, Harris is sheltered, fed and clothed at taxpayer expense.

In our rush to protect the guilty, we ignore the innocent.

If we allow ourselves to become a society where any act, no matter how reprehensible, can be explained away by heredity or environment, who will ever take responsibility? Who will be left to draw the line that must be drawn between what is right and what is wrong?