Deadly DUI crash garners Merced County D.A.'s son 12-year sentence
Posted on:7/16/2009
Written By: Chris Robideaux
| Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Gnoss, rejecting a defense attorney's plea for probation, sentenced Dylan Morse, the son of Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse, to 12 years and four months in prison Wednesday. |
Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Gnoss, rejecting a defense attorney's plea for probation, sentenced Dylan Morse, the son of Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse, to 12 years and four months in prison Wednesday. The sentence comes following Morse's part in a deadly DUI crash in Sonoma County in February. The sentence shocked Dr. Mark Spitzer, whose 19-year-old son Ryne, Dylan Morse's best friend, was paralyzed in the Feb. 14 crash and who remains in a coma in the Caremeridian hospital in Fairfax.
Spitzer said the sentence was "harsh and over the top."
"It wasn't my place to decide if he got prison, but the length of the sentence destroys a life and the chance of being positive," Spitzer said after the emotional afternoon-long sentencing hearing.
It angered defense attorney Chris Andrian, who asked Gnoss to impose probation or consecutive sentences in the county jail.
"Prison may have been appropriate but I think this was grossly unfair. He (Morse) received no benefit for his taking responsibility and for his youthfulness. It was more than the victims' families asked for. The only person without compassion in that courtroom today was the judge," Andrian said after sentencing.
Source: Bay City News Service