Tyler Flach sentenced to 25 years to life in deadly stabbing of Khaseen Morris outside LI strip mall
MINEOLA, N.Y. -- Tuesday was sentencing day for a Lido Beach man, three years after a deadly after-school brawl on Long Island.
Tyler Flach spoke out for the first time. He apologized, but also claimed the death of his 16-year-old victim was an "accident" he regrets.
"Relief, relief finally," said Keyanna Morris, the victim's sister.
Three and a half years of grief and anger spilled out in the Mineola courtroom as the sister of Khaseen Morris directly addressed his killer, tearfully asking why he viciously attacked her brother.
"He hurt us. He was wrong. He's evil," Keyanna Morris said.
Flach responded for the first time, calling the 2019 stabbing an accident. He told the Morris family, "I hate that day. I hate myself for accidentally causing a death. It's hard for me to live knowing by my hand someone is dead. I'm sorry."
Flach, then an 18-year-old aspiring rapper, gathered friends to attack Khaseen Morris at an Oceanside strip mall, after Morris had walked a girl home.
Judge Howard Sturmin told Flach, "You were trying to impress ..." but was interrupted by Flach, who blurted out, "We were kids! It was an accident!"
"You brought a knife to a brawl. Your friends will forget your bravado. You'll suffer from your stupidity for years and years and years," Sturmin said, before sentencing Flash to 25 years to life.
"He was held accountable for it, finally," Keyanna Morris said.
Flach's defense was that he was punching Khaseen Morris with the knife and accidentally pierced his heart. A defense motion to reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter was dismissed.
"He knows he made a mistake, but he wasn't trying to impress anyone, and he certainly wasn't trying to kill anyone. This was a young man who had a bright future ahead of him," attorney Kevin Dunshee said.
Prosecutors said it was Khaseen Morris' future that was extinguished.
"Khaseen was a 16-year-old boy with a smile that could light up a room and he had his life snuffed out by a bully," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.
"Khaseen was everything to us," Keyanna Morris said.
The Morrises said justice was served for a carefree, loving, non-violent soul who was stolen from their family.
Flach's legal team is pursuing an appeal.