Jury Urges Death Sentence for Man in ’94 Murder

A jury Wednesday recommended a death sentence for a paroled rapist convicted of savagely killing a young woman he had just met at an Orange nightclub.

Edward Patrick Morgan, 30, sat impassively as the decision was announced after 3 1/2 hours of deliberation. The same jury had deliberated two hours April 25 before convicting him of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault in the May 20, 1994, beating and strangulation of Leanora Annette Wong.

Morgan will be sentenced July 19 by Judge Richard L. Weatherspoon. Jurors said their decision on the death penalty was made easier by gruesome crime scene photos of Wong shown during the trial and by Morgan’s seemingly indifferent demeanor as he took the stand to apologize for the slaying.

“It could have been me or my friends,” said juror Heather Rieger, 22, of Yorba Linda. “Times are dangerous.”

Wong’s murder caused a furor among many who believed that the justice system had failed to protect society against Morgan, who had escaped the most serious charges in two of three sexual assault convictions.

Morgan had been paroled from prison just months before he went to the now-defunct Australian Beach Club and met Wong, a 23-year-old UC Riverside graduate who had only recently moved from her family’s Riverside home to help manage an Orange County footwear store.

Her battered body, beaten almost beyond recognition, was found the next morning in a secluded spot outside the club. Part of the attack was captured on a surveillance camera, and a bloody print at the scene belonged to Morgan.