MERCED - The nephew of Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II will be spending at least part of 2009 in a residential treatment facility after pleading no contest to felony assault with a deadly weapon and other charges in Superior Court on Tuesday.
Judge Hugh Flanagan sentenced Matthew Edward Morse to six months in jail and a minimum of six months in a treatment facility, stemming from arrests that happened last year. One of those arrests included a Sept. 19 assault in the parking lot of Save Mart, at 180 W. Olive Ave.
Morse also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence and a misdemeanor charge of possession of a concealed handgun.
The sentence was part of a plea deal reached between prosecutors and Morse’s attorney, C. Logan McKechnie. The state Office of the Attorney General was asked to handle the case, in order to avoid a conflict of interest with the Merced County District Attorney’s Office.
Dressed in solid yellow jailhouse clothes, Morse was quiet for most of the hearing, responding to Flanagan’s questions with “yes, sir,” and “no, sir.” His father, Brian Morse, sat in the nearly empty courtroom throughout the hearing. He walked over to his son at the end of the hearing and gave him a light pat on the shoulder, before the 23-year-old was led out of the courtroom, his hands shackled to his waist.
Even though Morse was sentenced to six months in jail, with credit for time already served, he could be out from behind bars by the end of this month. He’s been at the John Latorraca Correctional Center since September. Once he’s released from jail, Morse will be taken to a drug and alcohol treatment facility in San Francisco, operated by the Salvation Army.
Morse was arrested by Merced police after he was accused of slashing a 28-year-old man in the arm with a knife in the parking lot of Save Mart.
Police responded to the scene after they received a call that a man wearing a toga had stabbed the victim, leaving the area in a silver SUV-type vehicle.
The victim, who was sitting in the parking lot when police arrived, had two 1-inch-deep slices in his left arm, police said. The victim reported that the stabbing happened after the suspect had verbally insulted his wife and circled the couple in his car, eventually coming to a stop.
The victim then approached the suspect, who was sitting in his car, asking him, "What's up?" The man in the SUV, according to the victim, then slashed him with the knife. After being cut, the victim said, he punched the man in the mouth. The suspect then left the scene.
Morse was later identified as a suspect after the victim picked him out of a photo lineup. He was found at a toga party in the 3000 block of Park Avenue and taken into custody, police said.
The victim, who received 30 stitches in his arm to close both wounds, also reported that there was a passenger seated in the car with Morse. Police said that person wasn’t involved in the altercation.
Police also reported finding a 37-inch-long knife with a 25-inch blade, hidden in bushes at the Park Avenue location.
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