A 43-year-old man convicted in 1997 for orchestrating the fatal shooting of a rival drug dealer in Ansonia asked a three-judge panel Tuesday to lop some time off his prison sentence.
At age 22, Charles Harris was the head of a gang that controlled the illegal narcotics trade within the Olson Drive housing complex in the early 1990s, according to authorities.
Timothy Hopkins was a rival who started selling drugs on Olson Drive in 1994.
Harris ordered an underling to chase his rival out by shooting him in the buttocks. His attorney Tuesday characterized the plan as “moronic.”
Harris and two of his lieutenants — Damon Spencer and Terron Lopes — cornered Hopkins in a stairwell. Harris ordered Lopes to shoot Hopkins.
Lopes shot Hopkins twice with a .357-caliber Magnum. One of the bullets caused massive internal bleeding, causing Hopkins to die.
The Ensuing Court Cases
Lopes and Spencer were arrested and took plea bargains.
Harris was arrested but opted to take his case to a jury. He was acquitted of murder charges, but the jury found him guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree manslaughter.
A judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison, the maximum under state law at the time.
But the Connecticut sentence was to be served after Harris served prison time in North Carolina, where he was convicted of trafficking cocaine.
Harris was then shipped to North Carolina to serve the 17 years he owed the Tar Heel state for drug convictions.
Tuesday’s Hearing
Harris completed his North Carolina term last March, and was shipped back north to Connecticut to begin serving the 20 years he owes for his part in the Olson Drive shooting.
At a hearing Tuesday at Superior Court in Middletown in front of the state’s Sentence Review Division, John Bennett, a lawyer representing Harris, said the sentence handed down in Connecticut will essentially result in a 38-year prison sentence, far above the 20 year maximum.
Bennett said Lopes, the man who shot the victim, took a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.
Lopes was sentenced to 18 years, Bennett said, but was released after serving nine years.
“The guy that did the shooting ends up serving nine years on an 18-year sentence, and my client is sentenced to an effective sentence of 38 years,” Bennett said.
Bennett said Spencer, the third person charged in connection to the shooting, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and received a 10-year prison sentence.
“I just think the (prison) sentences here are disproportionate,” Bennett said.
Bennett also submitted an affidavit from the shooting victim’s mother, who said she was not opposed to Harris’ release since keeping him behind bars won’t bring her son back from the dead.
Harris briefly testified at Tuesday’s hearing through a video feed from the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.
He said he has enrolled in a number of adult education classes in prison, successfully completing programs on everything from money management to economic literacy.
“I didn’t come here a saint,” Harris said, but he said he has the desire to be an “upright citizen.”
Drug Gang Leader
But Kevin Lawlor, the state’s attorney for the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District, told the three-judge panel that Harris was in charge of a drug gang that “terrorized” Olson Drive.
“The shooting was encouraged, ordered and assisted by this defendant in order to protect drug turf,” Lawlor said. “He provided a gun to one of his lieutenants and basically ordered the shooting.”
Lawlor pointed out that the sentencing judge was well aware of Harris’ extensive criminal history, which included a long tradition of violating his probation.
Lawlor also said a judge described a “pre-sentence report” prepared for Harris in 1997 as one of the worst the judge had ever seen in terms of attitude, criminal history and a lack of remorse for the crime.
Bennett noted that Harris maintains his innocence in regard to the shooting. He has been behind bars since his arrest in 1995.
The three-judge panel will review documents connected to the case and could decide within 30 days whether to shorten the sentence or keep it as is.
