Offenses committed in Willow Park
Special to The Community News
A 35 year-old Clovis, New Mexico man was convicted of burglary of a habitation and evading arrest with a vehicle last week and was sentenced to 60 and 20 years in prison on the charges in a jury trial that concluded in the 415th District Court.

According to trial testimony, the case began last August when a state trooper tried to pull over Anthony Dwayne Morgan, also known as “Tiny,” for speeding on Interstate 20 near the Brock exit. When Morgan refused to pull over, an 18-mile chase ensued, stretching through residential areas of Weatherford at speeds of up to 100 m.p.h., according to Trooper Troy Erichsen. During the pursuit, Morgan ran several cars off the road and into a bar ditch.

The high-speed chase concluded on Bankhead Highway in Willow Park when Morgan left the roadway and crashed. Still bleeding from the mouth from losing a tooth in the wreck, Morgan fled into a nearby neighborhood, where he entered the home of an elderly couple through the unlocked back door.

According to the 72-year-old burglary victim, she saw Morgan shut and lock the door and close the blinds. When she saw that he was bleeding, the victim offered to call 911. Morgan said “no” and took the keys to the woman’s car. Although he initially believed the victim was going to drive him, when she started screaming to a neighbor as they were walking to her car, Morgan jumped into the woman’s car and tried to drive away.
Jurors convicted Morgan after deliberating for about 35 minutes.

During the punishment phase of trial, Assistant District Attorneys Kathleen Catania and Robert DuBoise introduced evidence showing that Morgan had prior penitentiary sentences in Texas and New Mexico for three drug offenses, robbery, child abuse, and possessing a stolen firearm. They also had law enforcement officers from Texas and New Mexico testify about three additional drug offenses for which Morgan is still awaiting trial.

Another police officer testified that, the day before the Parker County crimes for which Morgan was convicted, he was dispatched to a potential shooting in New Mexico involving Morgan. During his attempt to investigate, Morgan decided to flee and ended up dragging the officer down the street as he hung out of the window of Morgan’s car.

A New Mexico State Police officer testified that Morgan is a member of the street gang known as the Cash Money Original Gangstas. He said that law enforcement had essentially put CMOG out of business, but that, when Morgan was released from the New Mexico penitentiary, he revitalized the gang and returned them to being a serious crack dealing organization. New Mexico prison records showed that Morgan had CMOG tattooed on his back.

“When you have someone with this kind of record doing these kinds of things, it’s time to protect us from him,” Catania told jurors during closing argument. “He needs to be taken out of society for as long as possible.”
DuBoise asked jurors to consider Morgan’s current offenses, pending offenses, and prior convictions as his application to live in their community. “This defendant is a dangerous person with a demonstrated hatred for police, who has made a career out of dealing drugs, and who has shown us that he doesn’t care about the safety and security of others,” he said. “The jury did exactly what they needed to do, which was to give him a very long sentence.”

The jury sentenced Morgan to 60 years for burglary of a habitation and 20 years for evading arrest, assessing a total of $10,000 in fines as well.
“This defendant will be eligible for parole on both cases when he has served a quarter of his sentence,” said District Attorney Don Schnebly. “We are hopeful that parole officials will keep him for even longer than that.”