April 12, 2017 at 3:32 p.m.
Morris draws 2 1/2 years in prison in escape case
Morris draws 2 1/2 years in prison in escape case
Steven J. Morris was charged with resisting or obstructing an officer and escape criminal arrest in a case that arose in June 2015 when he fled from law enforcement seeking to question him on allegations that eventually led to a second case against him.
According to court records, a member of the Rhinelander Police Department observed Morris on foot at the intersection of Courtney and Rives streets on June 4, 2015. The officer knew Morris was wanted for questioning related to a sexual assault allegation. When the officer asked Morris to turn around and place his hands behind his back, he ran from the officer. He was chased by one officer, who observed Morris allegedly climb over a six-foot fence topped with three strands of barbed wire and escape into some woods north of Courtney Street.
Despite an intense search effort by RPD officers and sheriff's deputies, Morris eluded capture. The charges were filed in Oneida County Circuit Court on June 15 and an arrest warrant was authorized by Branch II Judge Michael Bloom.
On June 23, charges of first-degree child sex assault, intercourse with a person under 12 and exposing genitals to a child were filed against Morris. An arrest warrant on those charges was signed by Branch I Judge Patrick O'Melia. Both of the charges in the second case also carried the repeater enhancer.
On Aug. 5, 2015, a Lincoln County sheriff's deputy tried to apprehend Morris on the outstanding Oneida County warrants and one out of Lincoln County, but Morris fled through a field to escape. Another deputy tried to head Morris off and got into a physical altercation with the suspect. According to the police report of that incident, Morris escaped from the second deputy after fighting briefly with him, then taking his pepper spray away from him and spraying the deputy in the eyes. He then fled into a wooded area near County Road A near Tomahawk.
After an intense ground and aerial search that lasted hours, Morris was arrested in a seasonal cabin that he had broken into, according to the report.
Morris was charged with battery to a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer causing substantial bodily harm, disarming a peace officer, intent to use an oleoresin device on an officer and criminal trespass to a dwelling. All but the last charge were class H felonies, punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
On Dec. 22, 2015 Morris accepted a plea agreement in which he pled no contest to the felony charges. The misdemeanor was dismissed but read into the record for sentencing purposes.
Lincoln County Judge Jay Tlusty sentenced Morris to four years in prison followed by two years extended supervision on each count, to be served concurrently. He was also ordered to pay all court costs and surcharges and granted 107 days credit for time served in the Lincoln County Jail while the case was pending.
Morris didn't make his initial court appearance in the Oneida County case until July 6, 2016, after the Lincoln County case was resolved. He was represented by Troy Nielsen while assistant district attorney Mary Sowinski represented the state.
On Aug. 23, 2016, Sowinski and Nielsen told Judge Patrick O'Melia they had worked out a plea agreement that would have Morris plead guilty to the two lesser charges while the two more serious child sex cases would be dismissed. In exchange, Sowinski agreed to argue for a prison sentence no longer than what the Department of Corrections recommends in pre-sentence investigation report, but that the sentence would run consecutively to the four-year sentence he is already serving.
O'Melia, however, refused to accept the agreement, saying he wasn't comfortable allowing the two more serious charges, including a class B felony with a maximum prison sentence of 60 years, with a mandatory minimum of 25 years behind bars, to be dismissed.
The primary sticking point was the age of the alleged victim and a witness, who is also under 10 years old. Sowinski said the mother of the children had agreed to the plea agreement, which would have spared the children from having to testify if the case went to trial.
Because of the magnitude of the charges, O'Melia said he wanted to hear from the mother in person, on the record.
On Nov. 29, 2016, O'Melia accepted Morris' pleas per the agreement and ordered a pre-sentenced investigation.
A sentencing hearing was originally scheduled for March 2, but was rescheduled for Monday.
At Monday's hearing Sowinski argued that Morris should serve an extra six years in prison for the escape while Nielsen argued that any prison time his client receives should be served concurrently with the sentence he is already serving. Nielsen said both of Morris' parents would most likely die while he is in prison and that his client was ready to turn his life around.
Morris then spoke on his own behalf asking for leniency from O'Melia.
"Two years ago, if I had known this would be my new life, I wouldn't be sitting here, judge," Morris said.
He said he would never see his father alive again as a free man, his mother is very ill and he will lose four years of his children's' life.
"That's pretty much a life sentence. When I get out of prison, I'm going to be going back to the Green Bay area," he said. "I feel there is more industry there for me to hopefully get a job, rather than come back here and hope I get a job at the paper mill and that everything will be OK. I think we all know that's not going to happen."
He said he will complete all the educational options available to him in prison within the next year.
"So everything after this year, I guess you could say is dead time," he said. "You're just storing me."
He apologized for running from the Rhinelander officer, saying he turned what could have been 45 days in jail into possibly nine years in prison. He also said he did have remorse for what happened in Lincoln County, claiming the incident would not have happened if he had not ran from officers in Rhinelander.
Morris then said he never should have fled that day in Lincoln County, which greatly compounded his legal problems.
"I never intended to flee that day. I was on my way to work that day and I took off running," he told O'Melia. "The cop was chasing me,and I realized there was no way (I was getting away), and I turned around and I looked back and there was a gun pointed directly in my face. Now when you're staring down the barrel of a gun, that really changes your perception of things real quick. Now that I think back to it, I could see that his adrenaline was flowing, both of us were shaking. I didn't know what was going to happen."
He denied he tried to wrestle with the deputy.
"But I did try to save myself," Morris admitted. "Do I feel like I did save myself? I don't know. I don't know if he would have accidentally pulled that trigger. Given what was going on at the time, it was a very real possibility."
He then repeated that it wasn't his intention to "wrestle with a cop that day" and did apologize again, as well as for the escape incident.
As he listed all the various factors he had to taken into account while determining a sentence, O'Melia said that he was surprised by what he characterized as a "rather glowing" pre-sentence investigation report.
"As glowing as it could be, given his prior bad behavior," O'Melia clarified. "He has some good things going for him, but he also has some bad things working against him."
The judge then recited Morris's criminal history going back 12 years, and noted that while the crimes were relatively minor, he did fail at probation several times and served some jail and prison time as a result. He also cited Morris's rather steady work history since 2008.
"That's a good, positive trait for Mr. Morris, and I didn't expect to read that paragraph when I got to that page," O'Melia said, noting that in the case before him, the escape wasn't as serious as some escapes care are, but it was still an escape.
"This was a spur of the moment mistake that he made, according to him," the judge said.
But O'Melia said Morris was aware of the warrant for his arrest, and should have known sooner or later he would be caught, and he fled anyway.
"If it had been handled that day, Lincoln County wouldn't have happened a month later or two months later," O'Melia said.
He then took exception to Morris's statements about the Lincoln County incident.
"You're talking about looking down the barrel of a gun, and he's itchy. And what is going through my head is, is his next sentence going to be 'so I just got on my knees with my hands in the air?' No, your reaction was, let's go after him," O'Melia said. "That's the last thing 99.9-percent of the population would do."
Still, O'Melia said the seriousness of the Oneida County incident did not rise to the level where he felt he should sentence Morris to serve additional time on top of what he received from Tlusty in Lincoln County.
He then sentenced Morris to serve 2 1/2 years initial confinement followed by two years of extended supervision.
Jamie Taylor may be reached at jamie@ rivernewsonline.com.
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