By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN convicted of manslaughter in the 2015 death of an 88-year-old retired British doctor on Long Island has been informed that he does not qualify for early release due to good behaviour and must serve 11 years and three months in prison.

Court of Appeal president Justice Jon Isaacs told 52-year-old Moses Morris, who has a history of serious offences, he is ineligible for sentence remission.

Justice Isaacs cited Morris’s criminal record, which includes a prior manslaughter conviction in 1996 for which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, as a key factor disqualifying him from consideration for good behaviour credits.

Morris had argued that he should be released early because he had already served two-thirds of his latest manslaughter sentence. However, Justice Isaacs clarified that Morris’s 18-year sentence, handed down in January 2024, accounts for time served on remand since his arrest in 2015. His remaining prison time will be calculated from his conviction date of January 23, 2024.

The case stems from the killing of Dr Harry Harding, a retired doctor and business partner of Morris. Prosecutors stated that on April 1, 2015, an argument erupted at Dr Harding’s home over payment for conch pearls.

During the altercation, Morris fatally stabbed Dr Harding with a kitchen knife, then washed the weapon and returned it to the kitchen block.

Morris initially denied the crime, claiming that his confession was coerced under duress. While a jury acquitted him of murder in 2023, they failed to reach a verdict on the alternative charge of manslaughter.

Following a retrial, Morris accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was subsequently sentenced to 18 years in prison. Darnell Dorsette led the prosecution in the case.