Cassels on trial in roommate's shooting death

Cassels on trial in roommate's shooting death

Oct. 19, 2000

BY MATT GLECKMAN
Journal Staff Writer

After hearing testimony in Cortez District Court this week a 14-member jury will decide the fate of a Cortez man who has been charged with first- and second-degree murder following the shooting death of his roommate in January.

Bradley Scott Cassels, 46, was charged with first-degree, premeditated murder as well as second-degree murder in district court on Jan. 18 — seven days after he was arrested by police for allegedly murdering Greg Allen Morris at their apartment at 111 N. Piñon Drive in Cortez.

A district-court clerk on Wednesday said that Cassels has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Two sentence enhancers — commission of a violent crime with a deadly weapon and commission of a violent crime with a dangerous automatic weapon — were also added to the second-degree murder charge, which could double the 8-to-24-year presumptive-sentencing range if Cassels is convicted of the lesser murder charge.

The only possible punishment for first-degree murder is life imprisonment or execution.

According to police reports, Cassels allegedly shot the 38-year-old Morris, who was his roommate at the time, a number of times with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

Police suspected that Cassels was under the influence of quantities of drugs and alcohol at the time of the arrest.

The suspect then allegedly called 911 to report the shooting and then came out of his residence with his hands up when Cortez police arrived.

The shooting occurred at approximately 7 p.m. on Jan. 11, according to police reports.

Although Cassels made no statement implicating himself, at the time of the arrest Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said, "It’s pretty obvious to us who did the shooting. The suspect (Cassels) that we have is the shooter."

Since his arrest, Cassels has been held in Montezuma County Jail on a $1 million bond.

On Wednesday morning District Attorney Mike Green and defense attorney Tom Williams of the public defender’s office worked to establish pertinent evidence and recreate the scene of the shooting for the jurors.

Several bullets, bullet fragments, ammunition casings and personal items belonging to the victim were admitted as evidence.

Cortez police testimony showed that a vodka bottle which was "pretty well empty," a number of beer cans and a number of prescription-pill bottles were also found in the apartment at the time of the shooting.

Jurors also viewed a video of the shooting scene which included footage of the victim’s body, the alleged murder weapon, bullet holes inside the apartment and spent ammunition casings strewn around the house.

On Wednesday morning Green said that he expected to wrap up his prosecution by Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. Green anticipated that the case would be concluded by the end of the week.