Lawyer: Freeway Shooting ‘Idiotic’ but Not Attempted Murder

Albert Carroll Morgan, who shot and paralyzed another motorist near the Orange County fairgrounds last summer, was “thoughtless and stupid . . . he did an idiotic thing, tragic really,” Morgan’s attorney says.

But Paul S. Meyer, who will defend Morgan at his trial, claims that as bad as it was, “it was not attempted murder.”

Morgan, who is free on $100,000 bail, is scheduled to go on trial today on attempted murder charges in the July 18, 1987, shooting of Paul Gary Nussbaum of Rolling Hills Estates.

Morgan, 33, of Santa Ana is the only freeway shooter in Orange County to face felony charges stemming from a rash of freeway shootings in the Southland last summer that was blamed for five deaths and a dozen injuries.

A Pomona man was convicted of second-degree murder last year in the Aug. 22, 1986, shooting death of Corona Police Officer Patricia Dwyer. The shooter told police he only meant to frighten the driver of the van she was in, which he said had been tailgating him.

Meyer makes a similar argument for Morgan.

“He only meant to scare the other driver,” Meyer said in recent interviews. “He was only shooting at the car.”

Morgan is also charged with assault with a deadly weapon and shooting at an occupied motor vehicle. He has pleaded innocent to the charges. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.

Meyer claims that Morgan is “extremely remorseful” over what happened to Nussbaum, who is paralyzed from the neck down and remains hospitalized. But Meyer said he will argue to the jury that Morgan’s crime was no more than assault with a deadly weapon.

Meyer also argues that Morgan may be a victim of last summer’s public outcry over freeway shootings.

“What my client did was a rash impulse,” Meyer said. “But when you think about it, there is a similarity between what he did and what prosecutors are doing. They filed attempted murder charges on impulse because of the public outrage.”

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. James G. Enright disagrees.

“If there had been no other freeway shootings and (Morgan) had pulled out a pistol and fired at another motorist, we would have filed the same charges,” Enright said.

The chief witness against Morgan will be Marine Cpl. Rick J. Armstrong, who was in a vehicle right behind Morgan’s pickup on the day of the shooting.

According to Armstrong’s testimony at a preliminary hearing that concluded in August:

- Morgan was among several drivers, Armstrong included, who created an extra, fourth lane trying to merge with traffic on the Costa Mesa Freeway where it turns into Newport Boulevard, near the fairgrounds. The vehicles in that lane were about halfway onto the shoulder.

- When traffic stopped, a truck behind Armstrong pulled out to the right, into a fifth lane, and tried to pass just as Morgan was about to pull around in the same direction. Armstrong said Morgan had to slam on his brakes to avoid a collision.

- Morgan made an obscene gesture at the driver of the other truck and began yelling at him.

- A short time later, Nussbaum made the same move in his station wagon, passing both Armstrong and Morgan on the right shoulder.

- Just as Nussbaum pulled about even with Morgan’s truck, Morgan pulled out a gun and aimed it to his right.

“I saw his hand go over . . . and a puff of white smoke,” Armstrong testified.

Sitting next to Morgan was his wife, Lonnie Joy Morgan. Armstrong testified that Morgan shot past her and wounded Nussbaum.

“It scared the hell out of her,” defense attorney Meyer said. “She didn’t know it was coming. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

Morgan drove on to the fairgrounds, where he was arrested a short time later. Police said the gun, a .22-caliber derringer, was found “tucked completely inside” the front seat.

Meyer argued to Harbor Municipal Judge Selim S. Franklin at that hearing that “there is a big difference between scaring off a motorist by throwing a random shot and specifically intending to kill someone.”

Franklin, commenting on Meyer’s “rash-impulse” argument, said at the end of the preliminary hearing, “One can be furious and mad and also be cold and calculating at the same time.”

Morgan was found with a 0.10 blood-alcohol level at the time of his arrest, which is the legal limit in California. Meyer said he would use that evidence to show a jury that people lose their inhibitions when they’ve been drinking.

Morgan returned to a job as a roofer after the incident. While Meyer refused to let either of the Morgans be interviewed, he said Morgan has had difficulty dealing with what happened.

Nussbaum has filed a civil lawsuit against Morgan. Meyer said that “Morgan is cooperating with the insurance people to try to get money for Mr. Nussbaum.”