Hartford Man Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal Prison for Firearm Offenses, Violating Supervised Release

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MORRIS CARTER III, also known as "Mo," 37, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 156 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for firearm offenses and for violating the conditions of his supervised release from a prior federal conviction.

According to the evidence introduced during his trial, in the early morning of February 19, 2023, Carter was involved in a fight a convenience store in the south end of Hartford. Surveillance footage shows Carter possessing a firearm and beating a convenience store patron in the head with a firearm magazine, which ejected ammunition during the altercation. Carter then fled the store, drove toward Wethersfield, and threw two handguns out the car window. Wethersfield Police stopped the car on Nott Street, found a loaded magazine under the passenger seat, and arrested Carter. Later that morning, a Wethersfield resident called police after discovering one of the discarded guns at the end of her driveway. Officers responded and found both discarded firearms, a magazine, and ammunition in the area. Investigators also recovered the ammunition from the convenience store.

Carter has been detained since his arrest. On August 15, 2025, a jury found him guilty of one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Carter's criminal history includes a federal conviction in 2013 for conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, crack cocaine, and he was on federal supervised release when he committed the firearm violations in 2023.

Judge Dooley sentenced Carter to 136 months of imprisonment for the firearm violations and a consecutive 20 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Hartford Police Department, and the Wethersfield Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nathaniel J. Gentile and Sean P. Mahard.