The [Henderson] Daily Dispatch
OXFORD -- Scott Morris has declared himself indigent in Granville County Superior Court, claiming he is unable to pay an attorney to defend him against charges he murdered his wife, Kelly Currin Morris.
Durham attorney Jerry Clayton made an appearance in court on behalf of Scott Morris on Wednesday. Assistant District Attorney Cindy Bostic objected to Scott Morris filling out a document claiming he is legally destitute.
Judge Howard Manning set April 5 to decide the matter of legal representation and to preside at a Rule 24 hearing in which the state will declare its intent to seek the death penalty.
District Attorney Sam Currin has said he wants Scott Morris, if found guilty, to be executed.
The judge granted a request by Bostic to declare the case as legally exceptional and exempt from case management system rules because of the seriousness of the crime. The case instead will be closely monitored by the court.
Currin said his office has shared evidence with Clayton as required by court rules, but is awaiting reports from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). Currin said the SBI will get such information to his office by the middle of next month.
The case management system is an administrative process designed with three settings in three successive months.
If this case had remained in the case management system, Scott Morris would have received what the state has compiled along with a plea offer. He could have pleaded guilty at the first setting or at the next two settings. If he did not enter a plea at one of the three settings, then the case would have been placed on the court's trial docket.
Scott Morris, 35, of Creedmoor, is indicted for first-degree murder and the burning of a dwelling house, both in connection with the September 2008 disappearance of Kelly Currin Morris. She was 28 at the time she vanished.
Scott Morris was picked up by law enforcement officers and jailed without bond Nov. 17, the day after the remains of Kelly Currin Morris were discovered in a wooded area off Sam Moss Hayes Road in the southern part of the county.
Prior to the arrest, Senior District Court Judge Daniel Finch signed an emergency order granting custody of Scott Morris' and Kelly Currin Morris' 6-year-old daughter, Haley, to Kelly Currin Morris' father, Pat Currin, and to Kelly Currin Morris' stepmother, Juanita Currin.
Finch signed an order Nov. 20 saying Haley Morris could continue living with Pat and Juanita Currin.
Finch, after a Jan. 7 hearing, granted full custody of Haley Morris to Pat and Juanita Currin.
Clayton represented Scott Morris at the Jan. 7 hearing. Scott Morris, on the advice of Clayton, declined to take the stand, citing his legal rights against giving possibly incriminating testimony.
