A tale of two shootings

‘Where is justice?’

By FRITZ MAYER

RIVER VALLEY, NY — In the early hours of February 3, 2006, Chris Morris fired off two rifle shots at an officer in a patrol car in Morris’ driveway in Tusten. According to officials, the bullet nearly hit Sullivan County Sheriff’s Detective Cyrus Barnes, but no one was injured in the 12-hour standoff that followed. Morris surrendered and was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In the early morning hours of April 13, 2008, Joe Naughton, owner of the Western Hotel in Callioon, was handling a gun. Naughton had reportedly been drinking, the gun went off and Lori Schubeler, a bartender and liquor store clerk at the hotel, was killed when a single bullet entered her chest, aorta and lung. Naughton is looking at perhaps four months in the Sullivan County Jail.

Before Morris was sentenced, Sullivan County Judge Frank LaBuda noted that Morris had “fallen through the cracks.” It was fairly clear to just about everyone that Morris had suffered mental deterioration. In the years before the shooting, he had been diagnosed with various psychiatric ailments and prescribed various medications. During the trial, evidence was presented that his condition was linked to late-stage Lyme disease.

Given the circumstances, it’s hard for Morris’ wife, Jane, to see how his punishment and the proposed punishment for the other shooting stack up.

Jane said, “He was very sick with Lyme disease in his brain and nervous system, and he’s getting no treatment at all. And when I read this article about a man who killed a woman… Chris didn’t hurt anyone… and this person killed someone. And I hear that he might get only four months. Where is the justice? I don’t see any justice here.”

When Morris pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated assault on a police officer in April 2007, district attorney Steve Lungen said that while he agreed Morris suffered from mental illness, an insanity defense was not applicable because Morris knew what he was doing when he shot at Barnes.

In a phone interview on January 4, Lungen wouldn’t talk about the details of Naughton’s possible sentence, other than to say that he favored jail time for Naughton. He added, however, that comparing the two cases was like comparing apples to oranges. He said deliberately shooting at someone is “an entirely different case from two people who are examining a gun or multiple guns, and one of the guns goes off.”

Jane does not agree. She is convinced that part of the reason her husband’s sentence is so long is that he shot at a police officer instead of a civilian.

She agrees with others in the community who have expressed the view that Naughton’s sentence won’t be harsh enough. Morris said, “He’s open for business, his liquor store is open. He’s just going on with his life. He killed a woman.”

According to Jane, Morris is serving his time at the Sing Sing maximum security prison in Ossining.