{"id":12432,"date":"2012-01-26T15:43:55","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T20:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=12432"},"modified":"2012-01-26T15:43:55","modified_gmt":"2012-01-26T20:43:55","slug":"court-set-for-man-accused-of-five-murders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=12432","title":{"rendered":"Court Set For Man Accused Of Five Murders"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong>
\n Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Friday, (today), Dontae Rashawn Morris<\/strong> will appear before a Hillsborough Circuit judge. The hearing will possibly determine which of the five murders trials will be first. Two of the trials will be death penalty cases.<\/p>\n

Mark Cox<\/strong>, spokesman for the Hillsborough County State Attorney\u2019s Office said, \u201cThere is a hearing on Friday and Morris<\/strong> is on the docket. It is unknown which case the State will pursue first. The cases don\u2019t necessarily have to be tried in the order that the murders occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris<\/strong> was released from prison on April 10, 2010. In less than three months after his release, police said he committed five murders.<\/p>\n

The murder of 21-year-old Derek Anderson<\/strong> took place on May 18, 2010, at the Kenneth Court Apartment Complex. Police said the death occurred during an apparent attempted robbery. Morris<\/strong> was charged with first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a firearm.<\/p>\n

Thirteen days later, Rodney Jones<\/strong>, 41, was shot and killed during the early morning hours of May 31, 2010, during an attempted robbery. He was killed as he left the Cotton Club, 2405 W. Albany Street.<\/p>\n

Morris<\/strong> was charged with first-degree murder and attempted robbery in January 2011.<\/p>\n

The Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office investigated the shooting death of 25-year-old Harold Wright<\/strong> on June 8, 2010. Wright<\/strong> had been shot in the head and his body was discovered on the side of the road at 2003 51st Street, S., shortly after midnight.<\/p>\n

Detectives with the Sheriff\u2019s Office said their investigation revealed evidence that linked Morris<\/strong> to Wright\u2019s<\/strong> murder. on June 8, 2010.\u00a0 The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.<\/p>\n

The final murder charges stem from a traffic stop involving two Tampa Police officers. The result proved to be deadly.<\/p>\n

According to police, at 2:15 a.m., on Tuesday, June 29, 2010, Tampa Police Officers David Curtis<\/strong> and Jeffrey Kocab<\/strong>, both 31,\u00a0 were on routine patrol in East Tampa. Officer Curtis<\/strong> observed a 1994 Red Toyota Camry that didn\u2019t have the license plate visible. He turned his lights on behind the vehicle at N. 50th Street and E. Dr. M. L. King, Jr., Blvd. Officer Kocab<\/strong>, also 31, was his backup unit.<\/p>\n

The female driver, later identified as Ms. Cortnee Brantley<\/strong>, stopped the car at N. 50th Street and 23rd Avenue. Morris<\/strong> was the passenger, police said.<\/p>\n

A computer check revealed that an active warrant existed for Morris<\/strong> and attempted to make an arrest. Morris<\/strong> allegedly shot both officers at close range, and fled on foot. Ms. Brantley<\/strong> fled in the vehicle, police said.<\/p>\n

The shooting was captured on the dash cam of the police cruiser. Officer Kocab<\/strong> was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Tampa General Hospital. Officer Curtis<\/strong> was placed on life support and pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m., that morning.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morris<\/strong> surrendered on July 2nd, following an intensive nation-wide manhunt.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cox<\/strong> stated that the State Attorney\u2019s Office will pursue the death penalty for the deaths of the two officers. He stated that Florida law considers\u00a0 the murder of a law enforcement officer in the performance of his death as an aggravating factor. He also said violence in th pass can also be used.<\/p>\n

In addition to the five first-degree murder charges, Morris<\/strong> is facing charges ranging from being a felon in possession of a firearm to armed robbery.\u00a0 He was also charged with attempting to escape while being transported in July 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor On Friday, (today), Dontae Rashawn Morris will appear before a Hillsborough Circuit judge. The hearing will possibly determine which of the five murders trials will be first. Two of the trials will be death penalty cases. Mark Cox, spokesman for the Hillsborough County State Attorney\u2019s Office said, \u201cThere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}