Bradley Joe Morales

Rising numbers of COVID-19 cases could complicate jury selection in the upcoming murder re-trial for Bradley Joe Morales.

The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 1 for Morales, who is representing himself on the Class AA felony murder charge in the August 2017 stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend. Morales had disagreements with his past attorneys.

A pre-trial conference was held Friday, at which Ward County State’s Attorney Roza Larson argued against Judge Doug Mattson’s adjustment to the jury selection process due to COVID-19.

Mattson explained that the prospective jury panel is to be seated physically distanced from each other in two separate courtrooms, with ZOOM DTENS positioned in each of the two courtrooms so that participants, including Morales, can see and hear real time live transmissions between the courtrooms. He intends for the adjustments to be in effect only for the selection process.

Larson said she is also concerned about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic but thinks there are alternatives to Zoom. She suggested calling prospective jurors in smaller groups to be questioned by the prosecution and defense. Instead of questioning jurors via Zoom, she suggested that the courtroom audience could be seated in another courtroom and court proceedings could be live-streamed to the audience. Larson pointed out that the State Supreme Court ruled that Morales must be given a new trial because of a structural error in the proceedings during his first trial. She does not want to have irregularities in the jury selection process result in another reversal by the Supreme Court. Morales told the judge he also would prefer for jurors to be questioned in smaller groups instead of over Zoom. Mattson said he will make a ruling at a later date.

Morales also objected to the presence of television cameras during the hearing on Friday and asked why the media had not previously covered hearings at which he claimed his rights had been denied.

Morales was convicted by a jury at his first trial in May 2018 and Mattson sentenced him to 40 years in prison. However, the State Supreme Court later ordered that Morales must be given a new trial because it ruled that Mattson had violated Morales’s constitutional right to a public trial by closing the courtroom on different occasions without first considering alternatives.

On Friday, Mattson reminded Morales that he had previously given an order allowing for expanded media coverage at court proceedings involving Morales. Mattson also said it is up to media agencies what they decide to cover.

Morales had filed a motion seeking to continue the trial because he claimed he needed additional time to prepare his defense and to hire private investigators and an expert witness. He said it is difficult for him to prepare the defense because he is incarcerated. The prosecution argued that Morales had been warned about the drawbacks of representing himself. Mattson denied Morales’ motion to continue the trial.