Defendant Pointed Out in Court as Freeway Shooter

A witness to this summer’s first Orange County freeway shooting testified in vivid detail Thursday that defendant Albert Carroll Morgan raised a small handgun and fired a single shot from his truck, striking another motorist in the neck.

“I saw his hand go over . . . and a puff of white smoke,” said Marine Cpl. Rick J. Armstrong, who was driving with his wife and 11-month-old daughter behind Morgan when the incident occurred July 18 near the Orange County Fairgrounds.

Testifying at Morgan’s preliminary hearing in Harbor Municipal Court, Armstrong said he had a unobstructed view of the shooting. Morgan, a 32-year-old Santa Ana roofer who hid his face from photographers, sat motionless as Armstrong pointed a finger to identify him as the assailant.

After hearing the Armstrong’s account, Harbor Municipal Judge Selim S. Franklin ordered Morgan to stand trial on charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and firing at an inhabited vehicle. If convicted, he could serve a life sentence. Morgan remained in custody with bail set at $100,000.

Defense attorney Paul Meyer argued in vain that a charge of attempted murder was not justified.

“There’s a big difference between attempting to scare off a motorist by . . . attempting to fire a random shot and attempting to commit murder,” Meyer said.

Paul Gary Nussbaum, 28, of Rolling Hills Estate, who was wounded in the neck, is likely to be a quadriplegic for the rest of his life, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Chris Kralick. Nussbaum remains at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The incident was the first of several Orange County road shootings this summer and one of more than 50 acts of roadway violence in the Southland that have included shootings, stabbings and car-rammings. Four people have been slain and more than 15 injured in the incidents.

According to Armstrong’s testimony, Morgan’s truck was one of several vehicles in bumper-to-bumper traffic about 7 p.m. July 18 that tried to bypass the three regular lanes by forming an impromptu fourth lane on the right shoulder of the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway, Armstrong said.

But as those vehicles also slowed to a halt, a blue truck pulled even farther out on the right and tried to pass them, Armstrong said. Morgan also tried to pull to the right and nearly collided with the blue truck, according to Armstrong.

Obscene Gesture

Morgan made an obscene gesture and yelled at the driver of the blue truck, then tried to maneuver back to the left into the southbound flow, Armstrong said.

As Morgan’s truck was stopped in traffic, a Datsun driven by Nussbaum entered the congested lanes from behind and to the right, coming from the southbound interchange of the Corona del Mar Freeway, Armstrong said.

When Nussbaum’s car pulled alongside Morgan’s truck, Morgan leaned to his right, Armstrong said.

“I observed him (Morgan) reach over and fire,” Armstrong said.

Morgan then moved his truck back into traffic, and Nussbaum’s car continued down the right shoulder, testified Armstrong, 23, a Marine Corps radio operator stationed at Camp Pendleton.

Armstrong said that when he reached Nussbaum’s car, which had come to rest along the roadside, Nussbaum was slumped forward and police officers had arrived. Armstrong said he told police of the shooting.

Minutes later, Costa Mesa Police Officer Paul W. Ellis stopped Morgan’s truck as it entered the Orange County Fairgrounds, Ellis testified Thursday.

Test Showed Alcohol

Police found the gun, its chambers empty, jammed into the crease of the truck’s seat, Ellis testified. A search of Morgan revealed six unspent .22-caliber rounds in his trouser pockets.

A blood test showed Morgan had a blood-alcohol content of .10%, the level at which a person is legally presumed to be drunk, Kralick said.

Defense attorney Meyer, who does not dispute that his client fired the shot, argued that the .22-caliber derringer was a “small, inaccurate weapon” fired in the heat of anger, not with the intention to kill.

But Kralick argued that the gun “is a weapon designed to shoot individuals.”

In ordering Morgan to appear in Orange County Superior Court on Aug. 28, Judge Franklin noted that Morgan’s gun must be cocked before it can be fired.

A jury may interpret that to mean that Morgan exhibited premeditation and deliberation, rather than acting in the heat of emotion, Franklin said.

“It seems to me . . . impossible for him (Morgan) not to have seen the victim when he pulled the trigger,” Franklin said.

Morgan was “looking at the victim when he pulled the trigger,” Franklin said. “I think that will be enough for a jury to find (that he acted with) premeditation and deliberation.”