Adorable little boy didn't stand a chance after being born to underage prostitute mother, murder trial hears

A precious two-year-old boy who was savagely beaten to death and buried in a shallow grave in California didn't stand a chance because he was born to an underage prostitute mother, who was still 'a child' herself, a court heard. 

Jamari Madkins' lifeless body was dumped underground in Napa County, and authorities only came across his remains on December 23, 2022.

Shortly after, Keonte Harris, the boy's mother's alleged pimp, was arrested and charged in connection with the toddler's senseless death and trafficking his teen mother, who is now a witness in Harris' trial. 

On December 7, 2022 the then 17-year-old mother, who has only been identified as Jane Doe, was on a 'date' with a man at 'The Blade' on Oakland's International Boulevard - a location commonly known for its open air sex market.  

During that time, Harris fatally beat her child, she told the court during Harris' trial in September, The Mercury News reported. 

Prosecutors have argued that after Harris, then 22, 'brutally murdered [Madkins] with his fists,' he continued to take advantage of the young mother, a minor who was completely helpless. 

'There is no greater force, fear or duress … She knew that he could already kill somebody and bury the body with no remorse,' Deputy District Attorney Alexis Causey said during the hearing.

'She had nowhere to go. She had no idea what to do. She was a child.' 

The mother, who told the court she was first trafficked at the age of 13, said she got one final glimpse of her son before he died that night. 

'He had a gray sweater on and a yellow top and his jeans and some blue Crocs and a green bottle, a milk bottle, and I filled it up before leaving,' she testified. 

But when she came back, her baby boy was dead.  

Madkins suffered 22 bruises on his head and died from blunt force trauma, a children's hospital doctor previously testified. 

She told the court she attempted CPR on him and looked for signs of life, but it was too late. 

When she asked Harris what happened, her alleged pimp told her 'my soon hit his head, he passed out,' she testified. 

The man and teenaged mom then drove to a nearby hospital, but when they got there she refused to let him go. 

'[Harris] tells me to leave my son in front of the hospital and they’ll take him … I was screaming. Like, I was holding my son, "No, I’m not doing that. I’m not doing that",' Doe recalled. 

She and Harris, now 25, then made their way to an apartment complex in Fairfield, where they previously lived, and met up with Jose Saavedra. 

The three of them then drove to Napa County, dug a three-foot hole in a wooded area and buried the baby boy. 

Saavedra, then 21, was charged with being an accessory after the fact, but according to his attorney, he had no idea he was being recruited to help bury a dead child. 

While on the stand, Doe said she recalled Harris telling her at the time that he should probably leave her in a hole out there too. 

He also told her that he wished he killed her child another way, Doe stated. 

'I also do remember him saying that he should have shot [Madkins] to make it look like an accident,' she told the court. 

Her child's body was found weeks later before Harris was arrested in San Pablo. 

Although Doe has testified what she's been through in her life, including having strangers sexually abuse her for $100 a few minutes each day, Harris' defense team has continued to try to paint her as a liar who confessed to deceiving police throughout the investigation, per the outlet. 

'This case relies 1,000 percent on Jane Doe’s credibility and … she is not reliable,' Alameda County Assistant Public Defender Jennie Otis stated at the preliminary hearing. 

'She will admit she lies when she is caught, but she will not admit she lies, and she continues to lie.' 

Doe admitted she lied about the description of her son's burial, as she originally said she was in Oakland when it took place. 

She was also interviewed by Phong Tran, a former Oakland detective who has since been charged with perjury for allegedly making witnesses falsely incriminate murder defendants.  

The alleged disgraced police officer's case is still pending.

During the hearings, Judge Clifford Blakely said he was 'under no illusion that Jane Doe is a perfect witness, a good witness even,' but still, other evidence pointed toward Harris and Saavedra's involvement in Madkins' death. 

Specifically, Blakely pointed toward jail calls between the two men where they discussed the two-year-old's death.  

If convicted, Harris, who Doe said was a childhood friend she reconnected with the same year her son died, faces life in prison.