Fight With Fellow Pierce Student : Teen Robber Denies Guilt in Brawl

Convicted teen-age bank robber Michael Scott Morrison pleaded not guilty Thursday to beating a fellow Pierce College student who earlier quit as manager of Morrison’s campaign for a student-government post.

Jason Gilbert, 18, of Canoga Park, quit as campaign manager last spring after learning of the criminal charges against Morrison, authorities said.

Morrison, 19, of Tarzana, was sentenced in July to five years in California Youth Authority custody for his role in a 1985 bank robbery and theft of a car at gunpoint.

Morrison pleaded guilty in June to the armed robberies, but subsequently has appealed. Authorities are seeking to revoke a $50,000 appeal bond on which Morrison is free, said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond.

Last spring, Morrison ran for president of Associated Students at Pierce College in Woodland Hills and enlisted Gilbert’s help, Los Angeles Police Detective Paul Stewart said.

Morrison later chose to avoid a crowded field in the president’s race and sought the vice presidency, a Pierce College spokeswoman said.

Morrison withdrew completely after the Pierce student newspaper disclosed that he was being prosecuted. The disclosures had prompted Gilbert to quit the campaign, Stewart said.

On Sept. 15, as both students were beginning the fall semester at Pierce, Morrison confronted Gilbert in a hallway and accused him of having made prank telephone calls to Morrison’s home during the summer, Stewart said.

The argument escalated into a fight in which Morrison was described by witnesses as the aggressor, Stewart said.

Morrison contends that it was Gilbert who started the fight, and that he swung at Gilbert in self defense, said attorney Roger J. Diamond.

“It’s no big deal,” the defense lawyer said.

Withdraws From Pierce

A judge on Thursday set a Nov. 2 trial date for Morrison in Van Nuys Municipal Court on the misdemeanor battery charge.

Pierce was prepared to expel Morrison, who withdrew from the school “to avoid any further confrontations with this boy,” Morrison’s attorney said.

Morrison had pleaded guilty in June to robbing a teller at the Barclay’s Bank branch in Tarzana in January, 1985, and stealing a car in May, 1985, from the parking lot of a Woodland Hills restaurant. His accomplice, Mark Berman, 18, of Tarzana, pleaded guilty to armed robbery in Sylmar Juvenile Court in August, 1985, and was sentenced to youth-authority custody.

Morrison is appealing the judges’ decision that he be tried as an adult and his refusal to bar evidence that his attorney asserts was obtained by police illegally.

If the appellate court rules in Morrison’s favor, his guilty plea would be set aside and he could seek a new trial.

A hearing in Van Nuys Superior Court is set for Oct. 16 on whether Morrison’s appeal bond should be revoked.