TAMPA, Fla. — Mikese Morse, the mentally ill man who deliberately killed a father of two in New Tampa two years ago, appeared in court for the first time in almost a year.
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The 30-year-old is accused of deliberately hitting and killing Pedro Aguerreberry, 42, as he rode bikes with his two children on June 24, 2018, in New Tampa.
His family has long claimed he suffered from mental illness. Officials say Morse has been receiving treatment at a facility in Gainesville.
"I'll tell you, it's like night and day since the last time you guys saw him," said his mother, Khadeejah Morse. "The only difference is he got treatment. Treatment. It's the very thing we've been asking for for so long."
Medical staff there found Morse competent to stand trial but the judge wants another opinion.
“The court has to consider this issue and appoint experts to re-evaluate him so that the court can make a determination as to competency,” said Jhenerr Hines, attorney for Morse.
The family and his atorney want his treatment to continue.
Morse will be re-evaluated within the next 30 days. Morse has had about six evaluations overall.
The day of the crash, officials said Morse appeared visibly angry and increasingly incoherent in videos posted on Instagram. They show him talking about acting in the name of the Lord while walking around a Wal-Mart store. One video ends, "I'm going to kill somebody tonight right now."
He was charged with premeditated first-degree murder.
In July of that year, Morse pleaded not guilty and was ordered to undergo mental evaluation.
Morse's family claims that he was in a state of mental psychosis when he struck and killed Aguerreberry. They also said he had not received any mental treatment while in jail.
A longtime friend of Morse spoke out shortly after the deadly accident, saying his friend is in serious need of help and that sending him to prison is not the answer.
Morse is also accused of making a claim that he was involved in another homicide, however, investigators have confirmed there is no truth to the statement he made.
Morse's family has pointed the finger at a Tampa mental health facility for not holding Morse longer. They say he spent about a week at Gracepoint Medical after he went to a Tampa police station on June 12, where he made wild claims and behaved erratically.
The facility kept him beyond his 72 hour legally mandated hold, but Morse's family says he was not ready to be released.
"What happened to Pedro should have never happened and had (Mikese) stayed in that facility for two weeks and been stabilized, he would not have gotten out and acted out like this," said Michael Morse, Mikese’s father.
In November of 2018, Morse was found to be incompetent to stand trial on the murder charge. However, state officials had requested a second opinion because of reports that Morse did not cooperate with the state appointed psychologist.
Since then, he has been found competent to stand trail and will be changing attorneys.
Will be following this story throughout the developments.