Manassas teen enters guilty plea in murder

By Bennie Scarton Jr.

Published: August 8, 2008

A Manassas teen faces two life sentences plus 30 years following a guilty plea in Prince William Circuit Court on Friday.

Appearing before Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Dominique Laquan Morris, 18, pleaded guilty to first degree murder, robbery, burglary and shooting in a occupied building.

He will be sentenced at 1 p.m. Dec. 12.

Appearing with his defense attorney Ronald Fahy, Morris—dressed in his white prison garb—softly replied "yes" to the judge on each of the charges brought against him.

He is being held without bond.

Morris, of 8901 Nicol Lane, Apt. 203 in Manassas, was charged with the shooting death of Jermaine Antonio Wil-liams.

Morris is one of three men charged in the death of Williams, 23, who was shot during a home invasion at his town house in Dale City on May 7.

Police said Morris and the other two men, George Rayfus Quinn, 23, and Ricardo Xavier Haley, 25, drove to the Williams house in the 4600 block of Whitaker Place with plans to rob him and obtain drugs.

When they got there, they forced their way in and started shooting, police said at the time. Williams was shot several times before he was able to escape from the house. He died on the front porch of a town house a block away where he went for help, police said.

One other man was shot in the incident and a third was injured by broken glass when he jumped through a window to escape the shooting.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Claiborne Richardson II, in his report to the judge, said the three parked the car a short way from Williams' home and Morris and Haley first knocked on the door. Getting no re-sponse, they kicked it in and after asking Williams where the money was, Morris shot him in the face.

Richardson said Williams got up from the couch, went through the hallway and outside the house, leaving a stream of blood. He said Williams tried to hide in some bushes but was later found "expired." Richardson estimated that Morris fired six shots and that all of the bullet fragments came from Morris' gun.

Sentencing, according to Richardson, will come after the judge receives a probation report and sentencing guide-lines.

Morris waived the right to a jury trial. An earlier trial had been postponed when Fahy and attorney Chester Banks filed a motion to continue the case because DNA evidence related to the case was not available.

Richardson said that after the shooting the three drove off, firing several shots at the town house.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.