Chris Morris sentenced to 10 years in prison

Incident triggered by illness; wife ‘will not abandon him’

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — William “Chris” Morris was sentenced to 10 years in prison. At the sentencing in a courtroom in Monticello on May 30, Judge Frank LaBuda said Morris had “fallen through the cracks” of the system.

In the year and three months since Morris was charged with the attempted murder of a sheriff’s deputy, his wife Jane has been waging a campaign to persuade members of the criminal justice system in Sullivan County that Morris was not a drug-addicted criminal, but instead a formerly very successful financial industry executive who had fallen victim to a serious illness and a series of misdiagnoses and mistreatments.

At the sentencing, it appeared that her campaign had paid off. Under the terms of a plea bargain, Labuda could have given 12 years, and without the plea bargain, Morris could have received 20 years or more. Jane Morris said the punishment was severe, but given the facts, it was the best outcome that could be achieved.

There was never any doubt about the details of the incident that so changed the couple’s life. On February 3, 2006, police were summoned to the Morris residence on Route 97 south of Narrowsburg. Morris fired a rifle at Deputy Sheriff Cyrus Barnes, missing him by inches.

Twelve hours later Morris surrendered, and there were no injuries.

The incident was triggered by a domestic dispute, which followed a period of unstable behavior. From the start, Jane Morris explained to anyone who would listen that her husband was suffering from an illness.

She said her husband was suffering from Lyme disease and other illnesses that had been exacerbated when doctors prescribed inappropriate medications. The Lyme disease aspect of the illness had been reported before. What came out at the sentencing hearing was that Morris had also been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brought on by a shooting in the early ‘80s.

According to court testimony, Morris was shot twice in the abdomen while trying to protect his mother during a push-in robbery at his parents’ brownstone in Brooklyn. Morris’ wife believes he was never properly treated for PTSD after the incident.

Then, he was infected with Lyme disease, perhaps more than one strain, in 1999 or 2000. Late-stage Lyme disease in some patients is increasingly associated with bizarre, aggressive behavior.

Morris’ lawyer, Stephen Schick, said the Lyme disease compounded the effects of the PTSD. He said Morris had been successfully compensating for the PTSD, but when the Lyme disease was piled on top, it was too much for Morris to handle, especially with inappropriate medications, such as Valium.

At the sentencing, the psychiatrists for the defense and for the prosecution agreed that there was organic impairment to Morris’ brain. One of the doctors said there was a bi-polar element to Morris’ condition, but according to a Lyme disease expert, that could be directly attributed to late-stage Lyme Disease.

Both Schick and Jane Morris said he was much more stable than when the incident occurred because he had stopped taking the medications that had been improperly prescribed.

There is a chance that Morris will get the treatment he needs in prison. LaBuda recommended that the 51-year-old be incarcerated at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Oneida County, where prisoners from state and local jurisdictions can be treated. Schick said, “It’s the best place he could be in the state system.”

It’s the end of a 16-month ordeal for Jane Morris. Asked about her future, she said she is taking it one day at a time, and her Riverlights Bed and Breakfast and Yoga Center is open for business.

As for her relationship with her husband, she said that they had both been changed by the ordeal, but added, “I will never abandon Chris. I was never an abused wife, and for 20 years I had a very good relationship.”