Date is set for drunken driving trial

Kim Smith

Thursday, April 6, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

A July trial date has been set for the drunken driver accused of killing a Las Vegas woman and seriously injuring her Megabucks winner sister last month.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle scheduled the July 31 trial after Clark D. Morse pleaded not guilty to 13 charges stemming from the March 11 accident that killed Lela Anne Jay, 45.

According to police, Morse, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.18 shortly after the accident, has been arrested 16 times since the 1960s for driving under the influence.

Morse's attorney, John Moran Jr., told Hardcastle he intends to file motions asking for the state to pay for a private investigator and for a psychiatric evaluation to determine his client's competency.

Morse, who stared at the floor until his turn to appear, told Hardcastle he didn't get too far in school and doesn't read very well. He only got to the third grade, he said.

According to police, Morse, 57, rear-ended Cynthia Jay-Brennan's 1999 Chevrolet Camaro as she and her sister waited at a red light behind three cars at Boulder Highway and Indios Avenue. Jay-Brennan's car was propelled into the other cars.

Jay-Brennan, 37, is hospitalized at Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver, a hospital that specializes in spinal cord injuries. Her sister died of a broken neck and the occupants of the other vehicles received minor injuries.

Jay-Brennan won $35 million in a record Megabucks slot machine jackpot in January.

Morse was indicted March 30 on two counts of DUI, two counts of reckless driving, seven counts of leaving the scene of the accident, one count of voluntary manslaughter and one count of driving on a suspended license.

Each of the leaving the scene counts represents one of the seven victims in the accident.

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com.