Nov. 21—A Morgan County assistant district attorney revoked bond for the second time Tuesday on a Somerville man awaiting trial on charges of domestic violence by strangulation, child molestation and child endangerment with chemicals after his last arrest.
Walter Raymond Lee Morrow, 36, was arrested Monday and charged with domestic violence intimidation in the third degree, according to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office.
Morrow was indicted by a December 2020 grand jury on charges of domestic violence by strangulation, a class B felony, and child abuse, a class C felony. He has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial on January 27.
On May 30, 2021, Morrow was arrested and charged with chemical endangerment of a child, a class B misdemeanor, and was indicted by a grand jury in November of that year. He has pleaded not guilty. That trial is also scheduled for January 27.
While out on bail, Morrow was arrested in the city of Madison on February 25 of this year and charged with fourth-degree robbery, according to court records. Morgan County Assistant District Attorney Courtney Schellack moved to revoke Morrow’s bond on the theft charge on September 23, and a judge ordered that Morrow’s bond be conditionally revoked the same day.
Schellack filed a supplement on Tuesday to her September bond revocation request: “This supplement is intended to inform the court of the defendant’s new arrest.” Based on court records, it does not appear that Morrow was arrested after his bond was revoked in September.
Morrow’s harassment charge stems from an affidavit sworn on July 19 in which the defense attorney alleged he was punched, punched and bitten by Morrow. That same day, Morrow’s wife, whom he married in April 2023, petitioned Morgan County for an order of protection from abuse against him. A circuit judge issued a temporary ex parte injunction pending a hearing scheduled for Jan. 16.
The petition alleged that on July 10, Morrow, who had recently undergone surgery, became irritated with his wife and yelled at her about the amount of medication she was giving him, which he deemed insufficient.
“He swung at me with his walker (and) hit me on my left cheek with his open hand,” the petition reads. According to the petition, Morrow was still angry the next morning and punched and headbutted his wife.
“I tried to call 911, but he pushed my phone out of my hand and said he would kill me if I called the police,” Morrow’s wife wrote.
Circuit Judge Stephen Brown banned Morrow from entering his wife’s home, regardless of ownership, and ordered him not to come within 300 feet of his wife. Morrow was also ordered not to contact, harass, stalk, annoy, threaten or have physical or violent contact with his wife.
Morrow’s 2021 chemical endangerment of a child charge stems from a drug investigation ordered by the Department of Human Resources. According to an investigator’s statement, Morrow and another woman (not the woman he later married) had a small child together, and all three tested positive for meth.
In 2019, the same woman requested a protection from abuse order against Morrow from Morgan County, claiming he choked and beat her.
“Morrow also abuses his minor daughter,” she wrote. “He punched her, kicked her and dropped her on her head.”
A circuit judge granted a temporary ex parte protective order before it was later denied after both parties failed to appear for a hearing on the case.
The woman also filed for and was granted an ex parte protective order against Morrow in 2018. “Morrow choked me to the point where I felt like I was about to pass out,” she wrote.
The protective order was later dismissed at the woman’s request.
Morrow’s 2020 indictment on strangulation and child abuse charges states that he placed his child “in fear of imminent serious bodily harm due to occlusion or compression of the blood vessels or airways in the neck due to external pressure on the neck.”
According to the complaint, Morrow also “intentionally abused” his child by hitting her with a paddle.
– david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.
