Dismissal of charges in three 2013 slayings roils Merced County law enforcement

Three teenagers died in separate gang-related shootings in March 2013 during a large high school party outside of Atwater.

Those shootings resulted in a series of arrests last year of multiple suspects, including the Merced County district attorney’s son, and set in motion a high-profile criminal case with potentially far-reaching implications for law enforcement in Merced County in the new year.

Ethan Morse, son of District Attorney Larry Morse II, was charged in July 2014 with murder in connection with the death of one of the victims. Morse was released four months later without charges after a judge ruled prosecutors did not have the evidence to support the case. His co-defendant, Jacob Tellez, was released from jail Tuesday after state prosecutors dismissed the remaining weapons charges against him.

The arrest of Ethan Morse sparked bitterness between Larry Morse and many top-level authorities and detectives in the Sheriff’s Department, and troubling questions linger over whether both sides can still work together.

It is also unclear whether the case is really over. State prosecutors would not say whether they plan to try to appeal or refile the case.

The possibility of a federal civil rights lawsuit was also raised this week after Tellez’s attorney confirmed his client is considering seeking legal damages against Merced County for, among other issues, malicious prosecution.

A triple homicide

Bernabed Hernandez-Canela, 18, Samantha Parreira, 16, and Matthew Fisher, 19, were shot and killed March 30, 2013, during a large party on Westside Boulevard with more than 100 high school students and several known gang members present.

Scrutiny in the case intensified in July 2014 when Ethan Morse was arrested on suspicion of driving the getaway car in connection with the death of Hernandez-Canela. Detectives said Morse was at the wheel of a vehicle during a drive-by shooting that claimed the teenager’s life. Deputies said Tellez opened fire from a backseat of Morse’s vehicle, killing Hernandez-Canela.

The district attorney owns the vehicle allegedly used in the drive-by, a green Toyota Land Cruiser.

Deputies also arrested Jose L. Botello and Jose M. Carballido in connection with the deaths of Parreira and Fisher. Deputies said Hernandez-Canela’s death happened at the same party, but separately from the deaths of Parreira and Fisher. The case against Botello and Carballido is pending in Merced Superior Court.

Both cases were prosecuted by the state attorney general’s office due to the alleged involvement of Ethan Morse.

Ethan Morse’s attorney, Kirk McAllister, said his client did not know who killed Hernandez-Canela, but did know that Tellez didn’t shoot anybody. Morse came forward after Tellez was arrested, McAllister argued, to clear an innocent man.

Ethan Morse was freed after Judge Ronald W. Hansen ruled on Nov. 14, 2014, that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to support the case as charged. The judge went further in his ruling, however, making a formal factual finding that Tellez did not fire a gun from Morse’s vehicle on the night in question.

Evidence sparks controversy

The judge’s ruling came at the end of a weeklong, drama-filled preliminary hearing that saw defense attorneys McAllister, Adam Stewart and Larry Niermeyer rail against evidence, claiming deputies intimidated witnesses into making statements useful to the case, a claim the Sheriff’s Department adamantly denied.

Hansen, in his ruling, cited many of the issues raised by the defense.

The prosecution’s case was based primarily on statements from three witnesses who were inside Morse’s vehicle on that night and said they either saw or heard shots come from inside the vehicle. Those three witnesses did not personally testify during the hearing. Instead, prosecutors had deputies testify about statements the witnesses made, a common practice during preliminary hearings.

Hansen cited the testimony of defense witness Andrew Masengale as a key factor in his decision. Masengale, who was also inside Morse’s vehicle that night, testified that no shots were fired from the vehicle.

Masengale acknowledged that he never spoke with sheriff’s investigators. Judge Hansen asked Masengale why he refused to speak with investigators, despite the fact that Morse and Tellez, whom Masengale described as his best friends, were in jail on murder charges and his testimony could have helped them get out. Masengale responded that he did not want to get in trouble with his parents for attending the party.

Hansen said Masengale’s testimony was more credible than the secondhand statements from the other witnesses in the vehicle. The judge noted the prosecution witnesses initially denied seeing Tellez fire a gun and changed their statements after detectives told them Tellez made a taped confession.

A controversial recording of a 911 call inadvertently made by Tellez on the night of the shooting was another key piece of evidence for prosecutors. In the recording, deputies said, Tellez was heard taking credit for killing a person at the party who died under circumstances similar to Hernandez-Canela. But Hansen said he did not believe the 911 call contained any such admission.

Hansen took issue with the idea that Tellez could have fired two deadly shots from a moving vehicle and hit a running target on a dark, rainy night, amid the chaos of more than a hundred people fleeing the party in haphazard directions with bullets sailing through the air from multiple guns.

The judge also said the physical evidence did not support the prosecution’s case. Hansen specifically noted Hernandez-Canela was shot with two different calibers of bullets. Prosecutors during the hearing offered no explanation for the two sets of bullets.

Sheriff’s officials have said “the evidence in the case was not presented in its entirety” during the preliminary hearing, but have not elaborated.

The mystery witness

The case took an interesting turn the day before the judge’s ruling when Morse’s attorney called a witness who refused to testify, saying his testimony could jeopardize his life. The witness did take the stand the following day during a closed hearing; the judge issued a gag order regarding that testimony.

While it remains unclear exactly what the mystery witness said on the stand, Larry Morse has said the investigation conducted by his son’s attorney identified “the real shooters.”

“Within a week of Ethan’s arrest an eyewitness to the crime was located who provided information (on) who the killers were and confirmed that neither Ethan nor Jacob Tellez were involved. Because of fears for his own safety, the witness refused to meet with detectives or make any statement,” Morse said.

Going forward

In the days following the dismissal, Larry Morse blasted the prosecutors and detectives who worked on the case. “I’m not at all happy with how this all unfolded. As a parent, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t (upset),” Morse said. “It was a failure of epic proportions of the investigative arm of the criminal justice system.”

The arrest of Ethan Morse, a standout high school wrestler on his way to college in Arkansas, sent shock waves through Merced County and poisoned relations between the district attorney and the sheriff’s detectives who worked the case.

Both agencies in recent months have asked the attorney general’s office to investigate one another on issues that cropped up during the homicide case.

Tellez, who was freed from jail this week, may sue the county, his attorney said. Stewart told the Merced Sun-Star the Tellez family is “considering” a civil rights claim against Merced County “concerning negligent investigation, false arrest, malicious arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

No decisions have been made, Stewart said.

It was unclear whether Ethan Morse was considering similar action. Larry Morse said he personally has no plans to seek any civil damages but said he could not speak for his son.

It also remains uncertain whether state prosecutors could to try to refile or appeal the case. Sheriff Vern Warnke declined to comment on legal aspects of the case, referring those questions to the attorney general’s office. David Beltran, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, had “no comment” when asked Friday.

Warnke said he stands by the work done by the detectives.

“As far as I have seen, our detectives did an outstanding job and, up until Ethan Morse was named in the case, Larry Morse was congratulating the detectives and also thought they’d done an outstanding job,” Warnke said Friday. “He was very complimentary right up until that specific issue came up.”

Larry Morse declined to comment on Warnke’s remarks.

This story was originally published January 2, 2015 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Dismissal of charges in three 2013 slayings roils Merced County law enforcement."