Repentent killer slips, draws more jail time

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A paroled Rensselaer County killer who lived in Schenectady and told The Sunday Gazette he had renounced crime has been sent back to prison for another three years, according to a parole board ruling released this week.

The decision comes after Vincent Harris was convicted in Rensselaer County on two misdemeanor counts — but acquitted on a felony burglary charge.

Harris agreed to a total sentence of 45 months, calculated from the time of his initial arrest in Rensselaer County. That means he is to be released back to parole in March 2015, state officials said.

Harris, 61, stood trial in February in Rensselaer County Court on felony burglary and reckless endangerment counts. He was accused of helping his nephew David Kadio burglarize the Schodack home by serving as the getaway driver.

But the Rensselaer County Court jury appeared to agree with the defense arguments that Harris didn’t know what his nephew was doing that day, Harris’ trial attorney Mark Gaylord said.

The main question was his parole revocation hearing. According to the transcript of the hearing in April, there was talk of as little as 15 months. But the administrative law judge overseeing the hearing refused to sign off on the deal, instead wanting four years. The judge noted Harris’ lengthy original sentence, 25 years to life, arguing that 15 months was too little.

They eventually settled on 45 months.

Harris’ June 2011 arrest marked the end of about nine months of freedom; he was paroled in late 2010 after serving 37 years of a 25-years-to-life sentence for the Oct. 29, 1973, killing of Robert Cirilli in Rensselaer County.

After being paroled, Harris moved to Schenectady, where he was featured in a Sunday Gazette article in April 2011, recounting the commitment he had made to the parole board to be a better person and give back to society upon his release.