A former Riviera Beach K-9 officer was convicted today of attempted sexual battery, bribery and official misconduct and now faces an absolute maximum of 35 years in prison when sentenced in January.
Jurors convicted Maurice Morris following a trial last week featuring dueling stories: A prosecutor alleging he had sex with a female driver following a traffic stop, then disposed of two traffic tickets he had written her.
The defense argued that in an attempt to help her, Morris simply visited the woman's home to check her claim that she had a letter proving she didn't know her license was suspended. And that now she is inventing a story that he raped her.
Charged with sexual battery, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, jurors appeared to compromise with a lesser charge, finding him guilty of attempted sexual battery.
Morris' defense attorney, Nicole Sauvola, who could not immediately be reached following the verdict, has said she firmly believes in her client.
"He is not just not guilty. He is innocent. No good deed goes unpunished."
Assistant State Attorney Daliah Weiss argued at trial that Morris' brazen arrogance led him to have sex with the woman, an unsophisticated, vulnerable lady already in trouble with the law.
The woman was driving with a suspended license and on felony probation when she was stopped by Morris that morning in October 2008.
"She was ripe for the picking," said Weiss.
Weiss emphasized the missing traffic tickets — shown in the police dashboard video as last being handed to Morris — and his DNA being found in the woman's underwear.
It was not semen found there, though, but rather skin cells or another source that a DNA expert concluded Morris could not be excluded as a contributor to.
"Missing tickets. Rape. There you have it," Weiss argued before jurors. "And his DNA in her underwear."
According to Morris's story, and he did testify at trial, after he let the woman drive off after the traffic stop that morning, he happened to run into her again, her frantically waving him down as he drove home.
The GPS system in the patrol car he was driving showed he was at her home one hour and 23 minutes.
Too long to just read a letter, argued Weiss before jurors.
Too long for how the victim testified the sex act happened, said defense attorney Sauvola outside court. "She made it sound like two seconds," Sauvola said.
Weiss argued it is unbelievable that Morris would just happen to run into the woman once again, and let her drive off a second time with a suspended license, never calling for any kind of back-up or assistance.
Sauvola, Morris' attorney, emphasized irregularities in the DNA evidence in the case. For one thing, the woman turned in a different pair of underwear to police — a silver G-string, not the black undies, the wide band of which was visible in the video, she wore during the traffic stop.
On the first forensic testing of the silver G-string, no DNA was detected. But six months later in re-testing, some was then found, Sauvola said.
The woman was unable to identify Morris in either a photo lineup or in court — evidence, argued Weiss, that she had no motive to just make up a story of rape to get back at him. "And what was she angry about? Not getting a ticket?" Weiss said.
Under Florida law, it is considered a sexual battery without consent when a law enforcement or corrections officers "in a position of control or authority" or convincing the victim of their control, have sexual relations with someone.
Morris took an early retirement from the Riviera Police Department following his arrest. His alleged victim was recently jailed on unrelated attempted murder charge.
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