Patrick Harris Sentenced to 30 Years for Shooting Death of Dillon Grinage

Twenty-five-year-old Patrick Harris has been sentenced to thirty-years in prison for the 2016 shooting death of 25-year-old Dillon Grinage. Harris, who was charged with murder, appeared in the High Court of Belize before Justice Ricardo O’Neil Sandcroft on Thursday, for a sentencing hearing. He had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Justice Sandcroft said that there were a number of aggravating factors that lead to the decision which included the fact that Harris and Grinage had previous altercations, and that the killing was committed with a firearm. Justice Sandcroft deducted the three years, seven months Harris spent on remand from his sentence and took into consideration his guilty plea. Harris’s sentence was reduced to 21 years, five months but he will be eligible for parole in 15 years. On December 31, 2016, Harris, who was 19-years-old at the time, said that Grinage provoked him, leading him to lose control and shoot him four times. Grinage died en route to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.