TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa man accused of running over a father and two sons went on a rant in court Monday that included him admitting to a separate murder he claims happened in Tampa.
Mikese Morse, 30, was escorted out of the courtroom Monday after he kept interrupting the judge.
Morse was arrested in June after Tampa police say he purposely drove into the family on a bike path near New Tampa Boulevard and Wood Sage Drive. Pedro Aguerreberry, 42, was killed in the crash, which also injured his two young sons.
Morse has pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges in that case.
In court Monday, Morse threw a curve ball and claimed he ran over a man -- but it wasn't Aguerreberry or his sons. In an unexpected rant, Morse told the judge he killed a person near Hillsborough Avenue and Orient Road in Tampa.
Morse said: "I committed murder at the Hard Rock Casino" between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on June 12.
State Attorney Andrew Warren said his office is looking into the matter.
In the meantime, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesperson was unaware of any unsolved homicide matching what Morse described. And, that might be because there isn't one.
The only incident 10News could find that vaguely matched Morse's description was a minor hit-and-run at Hillsborough Avenue and Orient Road near the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa. It happened at 4:02 a.m. on June 12. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, a transient man said he was hit by a car that drove off. The man was not hurt, and no police report was written.
Could Morse have been mixed up about what happened? It's possible.
As for the case involving the bicycling family, Warren said his office would not pursue the death penalty due to Morse’s mental history.
In that case, Morse is charged with one count of premeditated first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of leaving the scene of a crash with a serious bodily injury and two counts of leaving the scene of a crash with an injury.
Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Mark D. Kiser has yet to announce a date for when he will decide if Morse is mentally competent to proceed with a trial or not.
Dr. George Northrup's report on Morse's mental state was due last week, but Kiser said Monday it is not complete.
In a court order, Kiser asked Northrup to determine if Morse “has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and whether he has a rational, as well as factual, understanding of the proceedings against him."
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