A judge has re-sentenced a young woman to 26 years to life in prison for her role in killing her stepfather, Timothy MacNeil, a La Mesa attorney, in 2007 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that life terms without parole are unconstitutional for juveniles.
A judge has re-sentenced a young woman to 26 years to life in prison for her role in killing her stepfather, Timothy MacNeil, a La Mesa attorney, in 2007 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that life terms without parole are unconstitutional for juveniles.
Brae Francis Hansen was 17 years old when she and her brother, Nathaniel Gann, 19, were implicated in the fatal shooting of MacNeil, 63, at his Rolando home on July 19, 2007. Separate juries of first-degree murder convicted them, but Hansen was also convicted of a special circumstance of lying in wait that resulted in a life sentence without parole.
The issue of juveniles convicted as adults of murder and subject to life sentences without parole has been heard many times before the California and U.S. Supreme Court, and Hansen’s case was sent back for re-sentencing.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Fred Link imposed 25 years to life plus one year for the special circumstance on July 13. Gann is serving a 25 years to life term and unaffected by the Supreme Court ruling.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my dad and hate the decisions that I made,” said Hansen to Link.
Son pleads guilty in beating death of his mother
Michael Morse, 51, pleaded guilty July 14 to voluntary manslaughter and to committing financial elder abuse in the beating death of his mother, Louise Morse, 73, in Santee.
Morse faces a prison term of 12 years when he is sentenced on Sept. 21, said Deputy District Attorney C.J. Mody. The prosecutor said he would get 11 years for manslaughter plus one year for the elder financial abuse count.
Mody said Morse was using his mother’s money for his own purposes. He said the cause of death was “complications from elder abuse.” A murder charge was dropped in El Cajon Superior Court.
Sheriff’s deputies answered a 911 call from Michael Morse on Oct. 19, 2013, at 7:07 p.m. in the 7900 block of Arly Court. Paramedics were unable to revive Louise Morse and declared her deceased. An autopsy determined she was a victim of elder abuse and he was arrested Sept. 3, 2014. He remains in jail.
Assault on police officers lands man in prison for eight years
Eight years in prison has been handed down to Jose Alberto Garcia, 35, who pleaded guilty to two counts of assault upon El Cajon Police officers in a May 15, 2014 incident.
Officers shot Garcia after he refused to follow orders after barricading himself in his estranged wife’s home. Police shot him after he was waving a gun around following a standoff that started at 6:52 a.m. in the 900 block of Ellen Lane in El Cajon.
El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein gave Garcia credit for more than 400 days spent in jail and denied probation. Garcia was shot in the chest by three officers after he pointed a gun at officers. He was taken to a hospital where he had surgery.
