ANSONIA – Convicted murderer Jose Morales has asked the state Supreme Court to review his case.
Morales was sentenced to 65 years in prison in July for murdering Christine Holloway, the 43-year-old mother of their missing child Vanessa Morales. A jury found him guilty on charges of murder and tampering with evidence in April.
Following Morales’ conviction, his trial attorney, Edward Gavin, requested a new trial but was denied.
Morales then filed his appeal to the Connecticut Supreme Court Sept. 9.
In the appeal, Morales intends to challenge the jury’s guilty verdict, as well as whether the court made any mistakes in its jury instructions or rulings on evidence, according to a court statement signed by his attorney, public defender Jennifer Bourn.
Morales could argue for a new trial or for his verdict to be thrown out altogether.
During the trial, prosecutors said Morales beat Holloway to death inside her Myrtle Avenue apartment on Dec. 1, 2019. Their daughter, Vanessa Morales, has not been seen since Nov. 29, 2019. Her father was the last person to see Vanessa, now 6 years old and still the subject of an active search.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to finding Vanessa. Anyone with information on her whereabouts should call the Ansonia Police Department at 203 ‑735‑1885.
Morales has not been charged in connection to Vanessa’s disappearance.
New Trial Denied, Appeal Filed
His appeal is the next step after a judge denied a request for a new trial. The Supreme Court will be asked to review that denial as part of the appeal.
In his request, Gavin had said evidence connected to Vanessa’s disappearance – including children’s books, shoes, and toys recovered from a bloody bag Morales dropped in a donation bin after Holloway’s death – should not have been shown in court.
Gavin had argued that making Vanessa’s disappearance part of the case could have prejudiced jurors against Morales.
Judge Shari A. Murphy, who presided over Morales’ trial and sentencing, denied Gavin’s request. She pointed out that Morales himself referred to Vanessa’s disappearance in his own testimony.
“The defendant, during his own testimony, offered evidence that something untoward to Vanessa occurred in that he testified Vanessa was taken by intruders and remains missing,” Murphy wrote in July.
Prosecutors said in the trial that Morales lied on the stand. They presented evidence that Morales killed Holloway himself and spent some 36 hours meticulously cleaning the crime scene afterward.
Bourn, Morales’ public defender, requested more than 4,300 pages of court documents as part of the appeal, according to court records. Those documents have an estimated delivery date of Dec. 15.
The next step will be for Morales and the state to submit briefs supporting their respective arguments. After those briefs, the Supreme Court could schedule a date to hear oral arguments, if needed.
