Megabucks winner, hurt in auto crash, testifies

Ed Koch and Kim Smith

Friday, March 2, 2001 | 11:33 a.m.

The last time the public saw Cynthia Jay-Brennan, she was a beautiful, beaming woman, clutching an oversized Megabucks check for nearly $35 million and sharing her hopes and dreams for a glowing future.

Today, as she was wheeled into District Court, observers saw a much more subdued scene -- a quadraplegic unable to access the witness stand to testify against Clark Morse, the man prosecutors say is responsible for her condition.

Her car was struck from behind behind March 11 last year as she sat in traffic, allegedly by Morse who is charged with being intoxicated at the time.

Instead of taking the stand this morning, Jay-Brennan, with an attendant at her side, sat less than 8 feet from Morse, testifying at a microphone set up in front of Judge Valerie Vega's bench.

Wheeled in from the area of judge's chambers, Jay-Brennan quietly but assertively answered questions posed by Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson. The prosecutors' table was set up on the left side of the bench instead of the traditional right, to accommodate Brennan who was asked to look at photos of the accident that also took the life of her sister.

She avoided eye contact with Morse.

Asked by Nelson what her condition is, Jay-Brennan said, "I am paralyzed from my upper chest to my toes. I can't move my fingers or feel them."

Several of the courtroom observers were obviously moved when she was unable to raise her right had to be sworn in.

Asked what she remembers of the accident, Jay-Brennan said she did not know who hit her so she was unable to identify Morse as the man who caused the accident.

Jay-Brennan said she was stopped at the traffic light on Indios Avenue and Boulder Highway, "talking to my sister. That's the last thing I remember (before waking up in the hospital)."

She said she goes to therapy four days a week to strengthen her arms, "to do the little I can do now."

The trial was continuing as the Sun went to press this morning. Jay-Brennan was one of the state's final witnesses in its case against Morse, 57. The defense is expected to begin presenting its evidence Monday.

Prosecutors are attempting to prove that Morse had double the legal amount of alcohol in his blood when he rear-ended and sent Jay-Brennan's car into three others as they sat waiting at a red light on Boulder Highway March 11.

Jay-Brennan's sister, Lela Ann Jay, 45, was killed in the crash, and she suffered devastating spinal cord injuries. The five people in the other cars suffered less severe injuries.

Just weeks before the accident, Jay-Brennan won a record jackpot of $35 million on a Megabucks slot machine. She had also recently married.

Morse is accused of leaving the scene. Police arrested him at his home five or six blocks away shortly after the accident.

Defense attorneys John Moran Jr. and Lew Brandon Jr. tried to cast doubt on Morse's intoxication through their cross-examination of Metro criminalist Frances Beaudette.

Anyone with a blood alcohol level of 0.10 or more is considered legally drunk under Nevada law.

Beaudette said that tests conducted on blood taken two and three hours after the crash showed Morse had blood alcohol levels of 0.18 and 0.15. She estimated that at the time of the crash, his blood alcohol level was probably about 0.24.

Beaudette, however, told Brandon that it would be possible for a 200-pound sober man to drink 10 shots of whiskey in rapid succession and have a 0.15 blood alcohol level 90 minutes later.

Defense attorneys also said that it would have been possible for Morse to have been under the legal limit at the time of the accident and then to have gone beyond it after arriving at home.

Morse's nephew, Bryan Morse, testified Wednesday that he arrived at his uncle and grandmother's house shortly after the crash to find him fast asleep. He also testified that a bottle of whiskey is kept under his grandmother's kitchen sink.

Also testifying Thursday were Kerry Berry, an insurance claims representative, and Kit Williams, a reporter with Channel 13.

Both women testified they interviewed Morse within days of the crash, and he told them both that he had been drinking beer and mixed drinks in the hours before the crash.

The women told jurors that Morse could not recall how many drinks he had had. They also said that he complained that the bartender kept serving him drinks when he shouldn't have.

Williams testified that Morse told her he thought the light was green when he rear-ended Jay-Brennan's car, and he left because he became frightened.

The reporter told Brandon that she did not specifically ask Morse if he had had anything to drink after the crash or if he was suffering from any medical conditions that could have caused the accident.

Brandon and Moran also have suggested that the accident could have been caused by Morse's diabetic condition. They've also told jurors that Morse has the mental capacity of a third-grader.

Williams, who was forced to testify after being served with a subpoena, refused to give her opinion as to Morse's mental status. She said that as a reporter, she tries not to form any opinions, she just reports what she is told.

Berry said she didn't know if Morse's apparent slowness was a result of a lack of formal education, mental retardation or severe alcoholism.

Williams also said that when she asked Morse about any medications he may have been taking, he admitted to her that he had stopped taking Anabuse.

Anabuse is a drug many alcoholics take that causes them to become ill when they drink alcohol.

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