Mejias Sentenced In Stabbing Death

A man charged in connection with a Zanesville stabbing death more than 20 years ago will spend the next 10 years behind bars.

42-year-old Raymond Mejias was in Muskingum County Common Pleas court Monday and was sentenced by Judge Kelly Cottrill on one count of first-degree voluntary manslaughter.

Mejias was arrested in New York back in September after police say he stabbed Jeffrey Harris in the abdomen on West Main Street in 1988.

Mejias addressed Judge Cottrill and the family of Jeffrey Harris before being sentenced.

"I can’t imagine the pain his family is suffering with, but I carry it, too and I’m suffering, too and I’ll be suffering for the rest of my life," said Mejias.

Nearly Twenty members of Harris’ family were in attendance at the sentencing.

Barbara Alexander said her family finally gets closure in knowing the man responsible for her nephew’s death is going to jail.

"We are all very well pleased, and I’m elated. I’ve cried tears, they’re joy and of course of missing my Nephew, and I again say thank you to Mr. Roush for a job very well done," said Alexander.

Mejias will be given credit for time already served in prison and will be placed on post-release control for 5 years after he is released.