Daniel Harris, 58, took off his glasses, sobbed and put his head on the table in front of him yesterday afternoon around 5:20 when he heard the jury’s “not guilty” verdict on the two charges against him—murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

“Oh, God,” said an emotional Harris softly as he sobbed in his hands and then side-hugged his defense lawyer Rhett Burney.

“I love my wife. I never would hurt her,” Harris then said, hobbling out the courtroom on his cane. “I ain’t seen my kids in so long.”

“There is justice after all. I haven’t seen (my children) in three years almost,” he later said outside the courtroom.

The verdict wraps up a nearly week-long case and nearly three-year answer to Harris’ Jan. 8, 2007 shooting of his estranged wife Sharon Harris at Daniel Harris’ home.

The afternoon of the shooting, Daniel Harris went to the Sheriff’s Office with his brother, informing officials of the situation.

Deputies found Sharon Harris at Daniel Harris’ home lying on the kitchen floor with gun shots to her knee and head.

Daniel Harris says the death was a result of self-defense.

As he stood on the witness stand speaking to Judge Garrison Hill Wednesday, Daniel Harris’ head bobbed slightly and his right hand pressed against a cane.

“I ain’t well educated,” he told the judge.

Then, answering questions about his health, Daniel Harris said he has neck, back, hip and heart problems plus diabetes.

On disability since 1997, Daniel Harris said he took medicine for multiple ailments.

Burney then asked Harris if he was married.

“I was married,” he said. “I’m a widower now.”

Discussing Sharon Harris’ mental state, Daniel Harris said she was “bipolar” and that he had her mentally evaluated at the probate court in 2006 after she beat him with a pool stick, ripped off his shirt and was arrested after resisting two officers.

He also filed for divorce and put a restraining order against his wife, he said.

The morning before Sharon Harris’ death, Daniel Harris said she came to his door “crying and wanting money.”

The Friday night before the Monday shooting, Sharon Harris also was looking for money and was suicidal, Daniel Harris said.

“She said, ‘I feel like ending it’ and all that,” Daniel Harris said.

He says he gave her $30 that Friday.

But the following Monday, when Sharon Harris found out he was going for a Guardian ad Litem appointment for custody of the couple’s three children, “all hell broke loose,” he said.

“You’ll regret that,” Daniel Harris said his wife told him before she slammed the door and left.

Daniel Harris says he locked the front door, went to the bathroom, got his medicine and went to get juice out of the refrigerator when he heard a bang.

Sharon Harris was at his back door with a gun, he said.

Then, in a shaky waning voice, Daniel Harris described the situation to the jury.

“I turned around startled,” he said. “Please don’t kill me...We wouldn’t be here today if she wouldn’t have (violated restraining orders).”

“I didn’t have no time to think...it all went blur,” he said.

The couple wrestled over the gun and Harris said he didn’t remember much.

“When I came to my senses, I was across the street at my truck,” he said in a strained voice.

He called his brother in California, and says he didn’t want to go back inside for fear that Sharon Harris would kill him.

“I didn’t know if she was alive or dead. I didn’t want to get killed,” he said.

Burney then asked him if he admits to shooting his wife, and also if he denies shooting her.

“I don’t know,” Daniel Harris answered both times. “All I could do was keep her from shooting me,” he said.

Upon cross-examination from the state, Daniel Harris said that Sharon Harris threatened him after he unsuccessfully tried to get her to leave.

“I begged her, ’If you leave, I won’t call the police,’” he said.

“‘I’m going to jail, you SOB, and you’re going to hell,’” he says Sharon Harris replied.

He then wrestled for the gun and grabbed her arms, Daniel Harris said.

Wednesday, he told Mindy Zimmerman, assistant solicitor with Eighth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, that maybe the first of the shots fired hit Sharon Harris’ head, but he wasn’t sure.

Zimmerman restated, with a question if, in fact, Daniel Harris couldn’t remember where he first shot his wife, or remember standing over her and shooting her twice more.

Zimmerman then asked Daniel Harris if he remembered changing his clothes before putting them in a well, and if he just all of a sudden came to.

“It didn’t seem real, ma’am,” he answered.

Zimmerman also pointed out that Daniel Harris called a brother in California, but didn’t call for help for his wife.

“I did what anyone would have done,” he said.

After a “full external exam,” Sharon Harris’ autopsy revealed no bruises, said Zimmerman in closing arguments yesterday.

“That’s not a sign of a struggle,” said Zimmerman. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Zimmerman also said Sharon Harris’ necklace remained intact and that hair found at the crime scene didn’t have the root attached.

The state’s expert witness said hair without the root “generally means hair was cut and not pulled,” said Zimmerman to show that Daniel Harris manipulated the crime scene.

Speaking against the self-defense claim, Zimmerman said evidence proved Daniel Harris first shot at his wife from more than 18 inches away, and that while she was on the ground, she received a bullet that entered her knee at a 90-degree angle. The bullet was later retrieved from under the house.

“We know that the firearm had to be positioned straight above her,” said Zimmerman.

Zimmerman says Sharon Harris then received a final bullet to her head and that Daniel Harris murdered his wife.

“Ladies and gentleman, Jan. 8, 2007, this man, the defendant, shot and killed his wife. He did it with malice. He did it with intent,” she said, pointing at Harris.

But before Zimmerman’s final words for the state, Daniel Harris’ defense lawyer Rhett Burney said that the state had to prove Daniel Harris had “malice aforethought,” or criminal intent in shooting his wife.

“And we know this isn’t true,” said Burney.

Before Sharon Harris was killed, Daniel Harris gave her money and went to church with her, Burney said.

“Does that sound like ill will?” he asked.

Speaking against the state’s words that Daniel Harris hid the evidence of the killing, Burney pointed out how Harris went to the officials after the shooting.

And highlighting self defense for his defendant, Burney said the “stippling” or gunpowder specks later found on Sharon Harris’ abdomen shows she handled the gun, whereas the state said 90 percent of “GSR,” or gunshot residue comes out with a shot bullet onto the victim.

“There was a struggle because Mrs. Harris brought the gun into the house,” Burney said.

Comparing Daniel Harris with Sharon Harris, Burney asked the jury who they saw as a violent person, saying Sharon Harris beat her husband with a pool stick, resisted arrest by taking on two police officers and violated court restraining orders.

“I’ve got confidence in you, ladies and gentleman...” Burney told jurors. “Do not take your job lightly. Do not make any speculation.”

After hearing the “not guilty” verdict, Eighth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace, whose office prosecuted the case against Harris, said the jurors heard and sifted through the evidence and that he respected their call and the country’s judicial system.

“I mean, you know, the jury heard the evidence...” said Peace after the trial, outside the courtroom. “...I respect their decision because that’s how our system is set up...I may not always agree with their decision, but I respect their decision.”

Burney, Daniel Harris’ defense lawyer, had no comment.