{"id":329204,"date":"2024-09-19T21:07:37","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T01:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=329204"},"modified":"2024-09-19T21:07:37","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T01:07:37","slug":"antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\/","title":{"rendered":"ANTIGUA: Convicted yacht murderer released after 30 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_329205\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-329205\" style=\"width: 637px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-329205 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Screenshot_20240919_195039_Gmail.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"637\" height=\"383\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-329205\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mellanson Harris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mellanson Harris, who was convicted of the brutal murders of four tourists aboard the Challenger yacht in Barbuda in 1994, has been released from prison. He was released\u00a0after serving a 30-year sentence.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alongside his accomplice Marvin Joseph, Harris was originally given the death penalty for the shocking killings that deeply impacted the nation and endangered its vital tourism industry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The murders were the result of a planned robbery that tragically went awry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The case took a significant turn when a court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, leading to the commutation of both Harris&#8217; and Joseph&#8217;s sentences. In 2016, they were re-sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of early release.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, after three decades of incarceration, Harris has been set free. His release has sparked a range of emotions among locals and has prompted questions about the justice system&#8217;s handling of such grave crimes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, Harris&#8217; co-accused, Marvin Joseph, remains in prison. The reasons for the difference in their releases are unclear, leading to demands for transparency from local advocacy groups.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1994 Challenger yacht murders continue to stand as one of the most notorious crimes in the Caribbean nation&#8217;s history. Four tourists lost their lives during what was meant to be a peaceful sailing vacation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mellanson Harris, who was convicted of the brutal murders of four tourists aboard the Challenger yacht in Barbuda in 1994, has been released from prison. He was released\u00a0after serving a 30-year sentence. Alongside his accomplice Marvin Joseph, Harris was originally&#8230;","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":329205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,235,9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-court-law","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-regional"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ANTIGUA: Convicted yacht murderer released after 30 Years - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ANTIGUA: Convicted yacht murderer released after 30 Years - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mellanson Harris, who was convicted of the brutal murders of four tourists aboard the Challenger yacht in Barbuda in 1994, has been released from prison. He was released\u00a0after serving a 30-year sentence. Alongside his accomplice Marvin Joseph, Harris was originally...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"Malaika\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-20T01:07:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Screenshot_20240919_195039_Gmail-e1726794350769.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"637\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"307\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/838be977f4b17551ad9c04956d985730\"},\"headline\":\"ANTIGUA: Convicted yacht murderer released after 30 Years\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-20T01:07:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":224,\"commentCount\":7,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/Screenshot_20240919_195039_Gmail-e1726794350769.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Crime\\\/Court\\\/Law\",\"Homepage Carousel\",\"News\",\"Regional\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/antigua-convicted-yacht-murderer-released-after-30-years\\\/\",\"name\":\"ANTIGUA: Convicted yacht murderer released after 30 Years - 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