Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The man accused of staging a wreck on a Morton area logging road to cover up his girlfriend’s beating death admitted this morning they got into a fight and he hit her several times and strangled her.

Corey R. Morgan, 32, said in a written statement he and Brenda Bail had been drinking.

Morgan, who has been held in the Lewis County Jail since the July 19 incident, pleaded guilty today to increased charges.

He was initially charged with second-degree murder however prosecutors added a charge of second-degree assault.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead spoke of additional finding from Bail’s autopsy. Choking her with his hands is what killed Bail, but she also had broken ribs on both sides, a broken nose and a large laceration on her lower lip, according to Halstead.

Other details of exactly where and when the assault occurred were not revealed during this morning’s court hearing.

Morgan, who is from Randle but lived in the Chehalis area with his 48-year-old girlfriend, had been sentenced two days before her death for an incident from last fall when he punched her in the face.

According to court documents, he told deputies they’d been out at the Market Street Pub in Chehalis and headed out to Forest Service Road 73 off state Route 508 to drink some more at a place that was special to the couple. It was about 1:30 a.m. when he walked to a home asking for help saying they’d been in a wreck fleeing three men who’d jumped them.

He told deputies the trio beat his girlfriend with a flashlight and a baton, but he fended them off, put her in his truck and sped down the logging road crashing into the ditch.

Bail was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 2:25 a.m.

Morgan said little at this morning’s hearing, but looked the judge in the eyes as he was questioned if he understood the consequences of his plea and spoke the words guilty twice.

He faces prison time of about 14 and a half years up to 23 years, according to Halstead. Prosecutors will ask for the high end of the standard sentencing range, Halstead said.

His admission came as part of a plea agreement. Halstead said he couldn’t say why Morgan chose to plead guilty, but speculated it had to do with the emerging evidence in the case.

Morgan’s defense attorney Don Blair had no comments to add outside the courtroom.

A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled but it will likely occur in the beginning of October, Halstead said.

•••

For background, read “Man suspected of killing fiancee had assaulted her before, lawyer says” from Tuesday July 23, 2013, here

Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter

This entry was posted on Monday, August 26th, 2013 at 11:32 am and is filed under Top story of the day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.