Nov. 23
MISSOURI:
Death penalty sought for alleged child murderer
Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen P. Sokoloff has gone on record
saying unless circumstances of the case change, he will be asking for the death
penalty in the case of the State vs. Shawn Morgan, alleged murderer of
3-year-old Breann Rodriguez of Senath, Mo.
Papers have already been filed with the court in the event Sokoloff decided to
seek the death penalty.
"I have filed a motion of aggravating circumstances which means unless
circumstances change, yes," he said in answer to the question of whether he
would seek the death penalty.
In the most recent court appearance, Prosecuting Attorney Sokoloff represented
the State of Missouri and Morgan appeared with his attorney Thomas Marshall. It
was during this time that a ruling on the motions that Morgan's attorney had
filed with the court earlier were heard, including a motion to continue trial.
The continuance was allowed and Morgan's trial has been taken off the court
docket for Dec. 10, 2012.
Sokoloff noted that the motions that were filed were the Public Defender
Capital Unit Packet and are filed in every case. Others sustained included:
-- Defendant's motion to submit juror questionnaires. It was noted in Missouri
Case Net that both parties will try to agree on questionnaires. If this cannot
be done, the court will determine the questionnaires to be submitted;
-- Defendant's motion to compel state to provide instructions prior to trial.
The instructions are to provided 10 days before the trial begins;
-- Defendant's motion to invoke rule prior to voir dire is sustained. Sokoloff
explained that this means witnesses cannot be in the courtroom prior to their
testimony;
-- Defendant's motion to compel notice of intent to offer nonstatutory
aggravators is sustained.
"If I intend to offer evidence that matters in sentencing that are not among
the ones that are specifically listed that the jury may consider in assessing
punishment, I'm supposed to give them notice of that," Sokoloff said.
-- Defendant's motion in limine to exclude any testimonial statements is
sustained in part.
-- Any statements that are determined to be testimonial under the ruling of
"Crawford versus Washington" is sustained. That's just basically saying courts
compile the law," Sokoloff commented.
-- Defendant's motion to discover arrest and conviction reports of witness is
sustained.
**All conviction information will be provided. Arrests concerning current
pending charges shall be disclosed as well," Sokoloff said, adding, "Arrest
records in conjunction with cases where no charges were filed or where they
were subsequently dismissed are not."
When asked why the trial was removed from the court docket of Dec. 10, he
explained, "There's a number of additional issues that need to be taken up
prior to a trial. There's a whole mariot of things."
3 year-old Rodriguez went missing from near her home on Aug. 6, 2011.
A search of the area was conducted by various agencies which included the
Federal Bureau of Investigation Task Force, the Dunklin County Sheriff's
Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Kennett Police Department and the
Bootheel Drug Task Force, as well as members of the community.
10 days later the child's remains were located near the floodway ditches
northeast of Hornersville, Mo., approximately 8 miles southeast of her home in
Senath.
At this time, a date has not been set for the trial. Jurors will still be
selected from Phelps County, Mo.
-- Some information for this article has been taken from Missouri Case Net.
(source: Dexter Daily Statesman)
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