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Testimony begins Wednesday in 2017 attempted murder case

By Dean Shalhoup - Senior Staff Writer | Dec 11, 2018

File photo Cyrinus Morris listens to proceedings at a June hearing in Superior Court in Nashua. Morris's attempted murder trial begins Wednesday.

NASHUA – After a lengthy series of motions, responses and hearings, a handful of competency evaluations, more than a dozen sealed documents and a mid-stream change of defense attorneys, attempted murder suspect Cyrinus “Framk” Morris is set for a Wednesday trial.

Morris, 49, a former Dracut, Massachusetts, resident currently incarcerated at Valley Street jail, appeared before Superior Court Judge Jacalyn Colburn Monday. His attorneys, Theodore Lothstein and Daniel Donadio, and county prosecutors Kent Smith and Nicole Thorspecken, ironed out the few remaining issues, then summoned the pool of potential jurors to the courtroom for the selection process.

By day’s end, the jury of 14, including the two alternates, was seated, setting the stage for Wednesday morning’s opening statements and the beginning of witness testimony.

Morris elected to go to trial on the six felony assault-related charges he faces, all of which stem from allegations he severely beat a then 42-year-old woman at her Nashua apartment in August 2017.

In addition to the charge of attempted murder, which is classified as a special felony, Morris is also charged with two counts of first-degree assault-serious bodily injury, and one count of first-degree assault-serious bodily injury (domestic violence), all felonies; and one count each of second-degree assault – serious bodily injury, and second-degree assault – serious bodily injury (domestic violence), both felonies.

Morris, who also goes by Frank Morris, lived at 74 Tennis Plaza Road in Dracut at the time of his arrest.

Nashua authorities filed the attempted murder charge against Morris based upon their investigation, through which they determined Morris allegedly “repeatedly kicked” the woman “as she attempted to protect herself on the ground … causing her to suffer a subdural hematoma and a subarachnoied hematoma, injuries that threatened her life,” according to the indictment.

Oddly, it was Morris himself who called 911 regarding the woman’s injuries, police said at the time. They said Morris called to ask for help because the woman fell, hit her head, became “unsteady on her feet” and “appeared confused.”

Morris, according to police reports, told police the woman had multiple bruises because she was “clumsy,” was constantly “bumping into things” and fell often.

However, police soon developed Morris as their chief suspect, and after issuing a warrant for his arrest, took him into custody.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com, or @Telegraph_DeanS.