Suspect in O.C. Killing Left Print, Transcript Says

SANTA ANA — A man charged with sexually assaulting and murdering a Huntington Beach woman was captured on videotape as he left a partial palm print with the victim’s blood at the crime scene, according to grand jury transcripts unsealed Monday.

Three videotapes taken by a parking lot surveillance camera show a man authorities say is Edward Patrick Morgan Jr. pulling the victim into the Orange lot, choking her at the top of a small staircase and then dragging her to the concrete enclosure where her battered body was discovered May 20, according to the transcripts unsealed at the request of The Times.

While the videotapes remain sealed, the transcripts reveal the horrific nature of the attack on Leanora Annette Wong, 23.

The case against Morgan triggered public outrage when it was revealed that the suspect has a long history of sexually assaulting young Orange County women but in nearly every case has managed to escape the most serious charges against him.

He was convicted of one rape and allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges in two other cases. In a fourth case, Morgan was sent back to prison for one year for parole violation after authorities declined to prosecute him for rape, which could have sent him to prison for several years.

Morgan, 28, of Orange, had just been paroled when the attack on Wong took place.

Critics said Morgan’s criminal history raises questions about how seriously Orange County prosecutors treat sex crimes against women. But prosecutors defend their actions, arguing that they did the best they could with cases in which victims had credibility problems.

According to the grand jury transcripts, Wong’s face was severely pummeled and her skull was fractured in two places. She suffered five fractured ribs--apparently when she was “stomped” so hard about the neck, chest and back that the pattern on the soles of her assailant’s shoes are visible. She also was sexually assaulted with a sharp object, experts testified.

Dr. Richard Fukumoto told the grand jury that Wong died of “traumatic shock.”

The grand jury later indicted Morgan on murder, kidnaping and sexual assault charges and two special-circumstance allegations that make him eligible for the death penalty.

Defense attorney Julian Bailey said he believes the videotapes will be a key issue at trial--but will ultimately help the defense. Bailey said his client left the club with Wong but that the two then went their separate ways.

“Mr. Morgan has from the beginning maintained his innocence in this case, and I want people to remember that he is presumed innocent in this case,” Bailey said. “He is denying that it is him on the videotape. . . . He honestly believes when everything comes out at trial it will be shown he wasn’t the one who did it.”

Morgan and Wong left the nightclub together about 1 a.m. Rebecca Klein, 22, a friend of Wong’s, testified before the grand jury that Morgan, a 5-foot-10 bodybuilder, seemed in a hurry and had “ahold of both of (Wong’s) hands.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum told the grand jury as it reviewed the videotapes that a man seen pulling a woman is believed to be Morgan.

The male figure is later seen hunched over the woman on a small staircase and then dragging her into an enclosed area, where a tree partially blocks the camera’s view. The man believed to be Morgan leaves and returns to the enclosure twice, the transcripts show.

Rosenblum could not be reached for comment late Monday. According to the transcripts, he acknowledged to the grand jury that the videotapes do not always provide clear shots of the attack but said there was still ample evidence.

“There should be no question in anyone’s mind that this is the video as he was walking Miss Wong to her death,” Rosenblum told the grand jury.

The prosecutor also noted that the assailant is seen leaning against a radiator pipe, the spot where Morgan’s print was found.

“That was a very fateful mistake for Mr. Morgan,” Rosenblum told the jurors. “When he touched that radiator, he sealed his fate.”

No murder weapon or bloodied clothing have been found, according to the transcript.

An unidentified woman who said she is Morgan’s girlfriend contends that she was driving Morgan home at the time of the killing.