August 4, 2010
Death-penalty murder trial postponed to October
The death-penalty murder trial of Hector Manuel Morales -- accused of executing a witness scheduled to testify against him in a felony drug-dealing case -- has been postponed.
Morales, 27, of York, was supposed to go on trial next Monday, but last week Common Pleas Judge Gregory M. Snyder granted a continuance request from court-appointed defense attorney Joanne Floyd, according to court records. Morales remains in York County Prison without bail.
Chief deputy prosecutor Karen Comery said the trial is now tentatively set for Oct. 4.
Also last week, Floyd asked the judge to order DNA testing on items found in the car Morales allegedly rode in to get to the North Tremont Street home of 42-year-old Ronald Lee Simmons Jr., according to Comery.
York City Police said Morales broke into Simmons' home about 1:15 a.m. July 16, 2009, and shot him six times in front of Simmons' wife.
Victim helped cops: Simmons had worked with state police on an undercover drug case against Morales, and was supposed to testify against Morales the same day he was killed, according to police.
Morales never showed up for that preliminary hearing before District Judge Alan Naylor on felony heroin-dealing charges, police said.
Snyder granted the defense motion for DNA testing of a hat and 13 latex gloves found in the alleged getaway car, Comery said.
"I called National Medical Services (Monday) to get a ballpark figure of what the DNA testing would cost," Comery said. "A full DNA profile (for all 13 gloves) would cost $26,000. The hat would be about $1,000. But that's an estimate -- it could be higher than that."
Compromise: At a status conference on Morales' case Tuesday morning, Floyd agreed to have only a partial DNA profile done on the gloves, which is more cost-effective, Comery said.
"So the price would come down (to about) $13,000, depending on how the lab groups the items when it tests them," the prosecutor said.
That bill will end up being paid by York County taxpayers, she said, because it's been determined Morales cannot pay for his own defense.
"We didn't feel that those items were probative," meaning of evidentiary value, Comery said, which is why the prosecution didn't have them tested.
"We feel this is just a stall (tactic)," she said. "The trial was scheduled to start next week, and (Floyd) requested testing last week."
Right to fair trial: But Floyd said she believes the items being tested are important.
"We really don't know at this point what was used (in the slaying) and what wasn't," Floyd said. Testing could definitively determine that, she said.
As for the cost, Floyd said every citizen has a constitutional right to a fair trial -- regardless of financial circumstances.
"People think of the cost until it's their life on the line, or their son's," she said. "The Constitution doesn't say only rich people have that right."
No deal: The District Attorney's Office has not offered a plea-agreement proposal to Morales and will not do so, according to Comery.
That's because prosecutors want Morales sentenced to death and have a strong case against him, she said.
"It's not OK to kill confidential informants. It's not OK to kill witnesses," Comery said. "And he killed Mr. Simmons in front of (the victim's) wife. She could have been seriously injured or killed."
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_15672793
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