Great Neck killer released on parole after more than 35 years in prison

Robert Pelaez
Officials announced the release of Bruce Haims, 61, from prison after almost 37 years. (Photo courtesy of the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services)

A man who clubbed a woman to death in 1983 at her Great Neck Estates home was released from prison on Monday, according to state court filings.

In 1984, a Nassau County judge sentenced Bruce Haims, a bookkeeper, to 25 years to life in prison for attempting to rape and ultimately killing 21-year-old Pamela Sharon, officials said.

Haims, now 61, who was also a Great Neck resident, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree attempted rape.  Haims was 24 years old when he killed Sharon. At the time of the murder, court filings show, Haims used a 20-pound shillelagh, or Irish walking stick, to beat  Sharon after she allowed him into her family’s home and denied him a date.

During the trial in 1984, Haims’ lawyer said the jury should not convict him of murder, citing mental illness as the reason.  A representative of the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services said on Tuesday that Haims had been classified as a Level 3 sex offender, the highest level, and designated a sexually violent offender by a judge.

The victim’s sister, Lisa Sharon, told Newsday she was “absolutely sickened” by the decision to grant Haims’ parole.

“The bad guy won today,” she told Newsday. “All I can think about is how profoundly unfair it is that Bruce Haims is now free to have a life and a future, after he deprived my sister of those very things.”

Efforts to reach Lisa Sharon, other family members, and law enforcement officials for comment were unavailing.

According to court filings, Haims will have to report to parole officers in Brooklyn.  Multiple reports said that the state parole board granted Haims a release from Woodbourne Correctional Facility despite Sharon’s family insisting he was still a danger to the community.

Court records showed that Haims had been previously denied parole throughout his time in prison, which is close to 37 years. Most recently, records show, Haims was denied parole in 2018 on the grounds that his release “would not be compatible with the welfare of society.”

According to Newsday, a transcript of Haims’ interview with parole commissioners in April showed that Haims said he was “a safe bet” and “a person that’s never gonna hurt another human being again.”

Haims claimed he “changed as a human being” and found housing at a facility where he could comply with the restrictions of a sex offender and a job where he was able to work in online sales or accounts receivable.

Documents from the state Department of Corrections showed Haims will be confined to Nassau County for his parole.

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