How Many Years Can You Get for Second-Degree Murder in New York?

Six selected official reports describe indeterminate prison outcomes with life maximums: Morris 15 years to life; Henry 17 years to life; Hosein 19 years to life; Dash 22 years to life; Lloyd 23 years to life; and King 25 years to life. These are separate reported outcomes, not an observed citywide range, average or prediction. Henry, Lloyd and King have additional convictions whose count-level sentence allocation is not supplied by the cited records. Lloyd’s retrials and appeal are one prosecution, not additional independent cases.

Quick Answer

• Named records: 6 reported dispositions, not 6 fully qualified isolated murder sentences
• Sentence type: Indeterminate prison terms with life maximums; the minimum is not a release date
• Scope limit: Multi-offense count allocation remains unverified for Henry, Lloyd and King
• Later decision identified: Lloyd’s amended 2016 judgment affirmed in 2020; leave to appeal subsequently denied
• Classification: Class A-I felony; no numerical observed range asserted

See the New York hub, compare first-degree assault cases, and read our methodology.

What Is Second-Degree Murder?

New York Penal Law §125.25 defines multiple forms of second-degree murder, including intentional murder, certain depraved-indifference murder, and specified felony-murder circumstances. The exact subsection and proven facts matter. The offense is a class A-I felony.

Statutory Sentence

New York Penal Law §70.00 provides an indeterminate life sentence framework for a class A-I felony. For ordinary second-degree murder, the minimum period is generally set between 15 and 25 years, followed by a maximum of life. Special circumstances can change the governing rules. The current section 70.00 page separately labels a future September 2027 version; that version is not applied now. Current statutory exposure is separate from the reported imposed outcomes and is not automatically assigned to the 1991 offense or other historical judgments.

Observed Case Outcomes

Case Details

Gucci Morris: The May 12, 2026 sentencing release reports that day’s 15-years-to-life sentence after an October 30, 2025 second-degree-murder verdict. The August 9, 2020 shooting is placed in Lincoln Terrace Park in Crown Heights. The incident and sentencing dates are different; the release alone does not establish the precise historical sentencing route.

Ricardo Henry: The August 15, 2024 release reports that day’s 17 years to life after a May jury verdict for second-degree murder, second-degree conspiracy and fourth-degree weapon possession, without count-by-count allocation. The November 5, 2019 incident began outside The Landing Family Shelter on Ditmars Boulevard; the men then walked up the street out of the cameras’ view before the stabbing. The shelter doorway is not a verified precise fatal-act point, and Brooklyn residence is not offense-location proof. Sauls’s separately reported manslaughter outcome is not another murder conviction or independent prosecution.

Michael Hosein: The August 13, 2026 release reports that day’s 19 years to life after a July 30 second-degree-murder plea. It places the killing in the Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment at 218 Gates Avenue, apartment 1A. March 10, 2023 is the wellness-check/discovery date; the report does not identify that date as the precise day of the fatal act.

Ricardo Dash: The June 12, 2026 release reports that day’s 22 years to life after a December 10, 2025 second-degree-murder verdict. The May 10, 2021 ambush began near 965 Hegeman Avenue and continued across Essex Street, rather than at Dash’s Bedford-Stuyvesant residence or Georgia arrest location. Related defendants’ gang-assault dispositions do not create additional independent murder prosecutions.

Derrick Lloyd: The May 4, 2016 agency release reports 23 years to life following the third trial for the January 1, 1991 shooting near 5624 Farragut Road. The July 29, 2020 appellate decision, pages 1–2 identifies murder 2 and weapon possession 3, and affirms the May 4 judgment as amended July 19, 2016. It traces the hung 2010 trial and reversed 2011 judgment to this same prosecution. Criminal leave to appeal was denied December 24, 2020; that is not another merits affirmance or an independent case. These records do not provide count-level allocation of the agency’s reported term.

Donta King Jr.: The June 17, 2025 release reports that day’s 25 years to life after a May 2 jury verdict including second-degree murder and second-degree weapon possession, without a separate sentence for each count. The fatal shooting occurred May 1, 2022 in the Frederick Douglass Houses cul-de-sac near West 102nd Street/Columbus Avenue, not during the April 30 interaction or at the later Pennsylvania arrest site.

Why Sentences Differ

The reports do not establish why one court selected a different minimum from another. Life maximums remain explicit; minimum prison periods are not predicted release dates. Multi-offense outcomes are not allocated to an individual count by assumption, and retrials or related defendants do not increase the independent-prosecution count.

Methodology

Relevant official agency sentencing and incident passages for all six named records, and both pages of Lloyd’s 2020 appellate decision and his later leave-denial entry, were read September 28, 2026 UTC (September 29 in Istanbul). Focused court/name searches did not establish a matched later decision for the other records; this is not exhaustive docket clearance. Independent municipal-point proof, historical statutory routes, count allocation and complete later-outcome qualification remain open. No numerical observed range or unconditional completed-case qualification is asserted.

Sources

• Penal Law §125.25
• Penal Law §70.00

Disclaimer

General information only, not legal advice. Murder sentencing is highly fact-specific.