Morgan files for public defender

Shawn Morgan, 43, of Senath, Mo., appeared in a Dunklin County courtroom on Tuesday morning before Judge John C. Spielman, his third appearance since being charged with the disappearance and death of three-year-old BreeAnn Rodriguez, also of Senath.

On Monday, Sept. 12, it was learned that the Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney, Stephen P. Sokoloff, had filed a second amended complaint against Morgan, alleging an additional offense. The new count alleges that Morgan committed a Class C felony offense of Possession of Child Pornography. The new charge is a result of a continuing investigation into the case by Dunklin County law enforcement officials.

Other charges against Morgan include felony counts of first degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence in connection to the case.

At Morgan's last appearance on Aug. 30, Sokoloff introduced the additional charge of felony A child kidnapping and also filed a notice of statutory of aggravating circumstances. According to Sokoloff, this is something the Prosecutor's office has to do in case it wishes to pursue the death penalty at a future date.

At all court appearances, Morgan appeared without legal representation but according to Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jonce Chidister, Morgan claims he cannot afford an attorney and has filed the necessary paperwork to obtain representation through the public defender's office. Another court appearance has been set for 9 a.m., on Oct. 4, 2011.

"He made an application which is required by law. The public defender's office reviewed the application and made a report back to the court. The judge then appointed a public defender to represent him," Chidister said.

According to Chidister, the paperwork for the public defender will be forwarded to one of the larger public defender divisions, possibly St. Louis, Mo. He added, "I expect because we have filed a notice of aggravating factors, the public defenders office has a special division called the capitol division. They specialize in death penalty defense. They will send down an attorney or a team of attorneys to represent Mr. Morgan. I don't know if they will be here on Oct. 4, or they will just send us down a list of dates.

"We'll have the court reporters dates by then and we'll sit down and coordinate either Tuesday or Friday when the attorneys can be here, when we have an opening and when the court reporter has an opening. We'll actually have the preliminary hearing on that day."

When asked if Morgan will plea during the preliminary hearing, Chidister said, "We will present evidence. If the court finds that there is probable cause to believe that the crimes were committed and that the defendant committed them which means there is some amount of evidence there that says yes, this list of crimes occurred and yes, there is evidence that this defendant committed this list of crimes. Then it would be bound over to Division One and in Division One is when he would actually formally enter a plea of guilty or not guilty."

Three-year-old BreeAnn Rodriguez went missing from near her home in Senath on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011, while she and her brother were riding their bicycles in the neighborhood.

In the week following her disappearance, community volunteers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Task Force, Dunklin County Sheriff's Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Kennett Police Department and the Bootheel Drug Task Force aided in the search for the missing child before it came to an end when the child's body was discovered in the floodway ditches northeast of Hornersville, Mo., approximately eight miles southeast of her home in Senath.

Morgan was arrested and charged in the child's death on Aug. 13 and was taken to the Dunklin County Justice Center where he remains without bond.