Lamar A. Harris was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for killing his “best friend” with a brick and robbing him at the Morristown train station last year.
“What is wrong is wrong. What is right is right,” said Harris, 34, expressing remorse and reading aloud an apology to the victim’s family before Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor.
Harris pleaded guilty in June to aggravated manslaughter and theft in connection with the death of 60-year-old Morristown resident Matthew Palla, whose bludgeoned body was found in a station stairwell early on March 29, 2021.
Palla had flashed a wad of bills when he bought pizza for Harris at a 7-11 on the evening of March 28.
Harris, who had been drinking and using crack cocaine, later hit him in the head with a brick, which authorities believe he grabbed from the nearby M Station construction project. Then he snatched Palla’s wallet and, according to his lawyer, left the victim bleeding but still alive in the train station stairwell without calling for help.
“My best friend is gone,” Harris said on Thursday, accepting “full responsibility” and asking for forgiveness from Palla’s family and from God.
“If I could make a wish, it would be to bring back the hands of time,” Harris said, describing Palla as “one of the nicest, kindest people you could ever meet. He would help a homeless person with the shirt off his back.”
He said he also wished they hadn’t been drinking and using drugs on that fateful evening, and that they had not argued over the money in Palla’s pocket.
The judge did not buy Harris’ suggestion of a spontaneous fight in a stairwell; this was a premeditated robbery that went too far.
“He knew what he was doing. He picked up the brick in an attempt to get money,” Taylor said, imposing a sentence that fell between the requests made by the prosecution and defense.
In addition to 18 years for the killing, Harris also will serve five years–to run concurrently–for the theft. He must do about 15 years and three months before seeking parole, and then he faces five years of parole supervision. He gets credit for 498 days already spent in the Morris County Jail.
Harris also will pay $800 in restitution to Palla’s family.
‘HIS GENEROSITY LED TO HIS DEATH’
Nobody from either family attended the sentencing at the Morris County Courthouse. It would have been too painful for the victim’s relatives, said Morris County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn Jr., who read aloud a statement from Palla’s sister.
She described her brother as a fan of The Eagles and Jackson Browne, a man who was “generous to a fault.”
“He bought dinner for a friend, and he killed him…Remember, his generosity led to his death,” concluded the statement
Palla leaves behind a 13-year-old daughter and a 93-year-old mother, Schellhorn said.
In exchange for the guilty plea, Schellhorn had downgraded the charges from first-degree murder and robbery, and dismissed weapons charges.
The prosecutor said the plea offer was made in part to spare Palla’s family the trauma of a trial. He asked the judge for a 20-year sentence.
Morris County Deputy Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Martin had sought a 16-year jail term for Harris.
She blamed his troubled childhood for his descent into alcohol and cocaine abuse, homelessness, petty crimes, and finally, manslaughter.
Harris, a 2007 Morristown High graduate, had lead paint poisoning, and suffers from a seizure disorder that requires medication. He grew up without his father, who was in prison for sexually abusing a family member, Martin added.
She said Harris has a daughter who would benefit from his early release, as would the community.
“He has the opportunity to rehabilitate himself and become a productive member of society,” Martin said, noting he has shown remorse and has sought counseling while in jail for a killing that “haunts him every day.”
Martin called that act “the result of a bad decision on (Harris’) part, fueled by his drug problem and his immaturity.”
Harris, who was homeless at the time of the crime, was arrested two nights later at the train station, where he had been sleeping. Authorities said his sneakers were spattered with blood.
Mathew was my best friend and never mentioned Lamar. He used to stay with me and my friends frequently when he was out of work because COVID shut his job down. So he stayed with me until he got another job. so the last 8 or 9 months I didn’t see him much but we spoke on the phone everyday. Sometimes more than once a day. I miss him so much.