Detroit, MI – A Detroit man has been sentenced to decades in prison for the murder of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
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On March 12, 2026, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Nicholas Hathaway sentenced Jarvis Butts to 35 to 60 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections after he pleaded guilty to Second-Degree Murder in the death of the teenage girl.
The sentencing stems from Butts admitting responsibility for Harris’ death as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy said a key part of the plea agreement required the defendant to provide information about the location of the victim’s body.
“One of the most important aspects of the plea agreement was giving Na’Ziyah’s family some semblance of closure,” Worthy said in a statement. “The disclosure of the location of her body was crucial. As a condition of his plea to the Second-Degree Murder case, Jarvis Butts was required to give a truthful statement regarding the body of Na’Ziyah Harris. We are satisfied with the statement he has given.”
Prosecutors said the statement regarding the body’s location will not be released publicly.
Under the sentence agreement, Butts will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 35 years of the sentence.
In addition to the murder conviction, Butts was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison in five separate criminal sexual conduct cases involving minor victims, with all sentences ordered to run concurrently.
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