Paroled Rapist Is Indicted on Murder Charge : Courts: He faces possible death penalty if convicted. Other charges include kidnaping and sexual assault of woman, 23.

The Orange County Grand Jury indicted a paroled rapist Monday on kidnaping, sexual assault and murder charges in the death of a young Huntington Beach woman witnesses say he met in an Orange nightclub.

Edward Patrick Morgan Jr., 28, will be arraigned next Tuesday on the charges, which include allegations that the May 20 slaying of Leanora Annette Wong, 23, took place during a kidnaping and sexual assault. The allegations make Morgan eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutor Lewis R. Rosenblum said for the first time Monday that Wong was kidnaped shortly before her battered body was found in a parking lot across the street from the Australian Beach Restaurant & Nightclub. She had been raped with a foreign object, officials said.

“The grand jury saw evidence that Ms. Wong was abducted before she was murdered,” said Rosenblum, who declined to elaborate. Rosenblum said he would not discuss whether video cameras in the parking lot captured portions of the alleged kidnaping.

Morgan had pleaded not guilty Friday to the original charges of murder and sexual assault.

The prosecutor said he sought the indictment to bring Morgan to trial as soon as possible. The indictment process bypasses a preliminary hearing in Orange County Municipal Court scheduled for later this summer.

Morgan’s case focused scrutiny on the Orange County district attorney’s office after it was learned that Morgan had been accused of raping four young Orange County women in the last decade.

In all but one of the cases, however, the district attorney’s office either declined to prosecute or allowed Morgan to plead guilty to less serious charges. Prosecutors say the credibility of the victims posed a problem in those cases.

In the last case, prosecutors allowed Morgan to be sent back to prison for one year for parole violation instead of seeking a rape conviction that could have sent him to prison for nearly a decade. Morgan had been released after serving his time on the parole violation when Wong was slain.

In the wake of criticism that prosecutors were too easy on Morgan, his defense attorney said he fears prosecutors will try to compensate by seeking the death penalty even if the case does not warrant the harshest punishment under law.

Deputy Public Defender Stephen J. Biskar did not return phone calls Monday.

Rosenblum said the decision whether to seek the death penalty will be decided solely on the facts.

Wong was seen talking to Morgan at the nightclub on the night of the slaying, authorities say.