Man Convicted of Felton Guild Killing Denied Parole

An elderly man convicted more than two decades ago of killing his business partner and friend in Felton was denied parole Friday, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office announced. 

Seth Kendall Harding, 76, will not again be eligible for parole until 2018.

Harding was convicted of second degree murder with the use of a firearm for the killing of Richard Alldis on October 7, 1992. He was sentenced to 20 years to life by Judge Thomas Black on April 14, 1992.

According to a 2007 Santa Cruz Sentinel story, Harding had been living rent-free in a prototype of a modular structure on the Felton Guild property for nearly two decades. He and Alldis were partners on the project until Alldis needed to rent out the unit to make money. 

The eviction angered harding. He shot Alldis once in the head and once in the neck with a gun he had purchased a couple of months prior to the murder, according to the D.A.'s Office.

Harding still shows no remorse for the killing or insight as to why he did it, the D.A.'s Office reported. Those factors led the state Board of Prison Terms to deny Harding's parole. 

Assistant District Attorney Johanna Schonfield attended the hearing on behalf of the District Attorney's Office.  Also in attendance via video conference were Alldis's widow, daughter and brother who tearfully offered words of remembrance of Alldis, including: "he was a kind, compassionate man, he was our rock."