Teen faces DUI manslaughter in fatal crash

<p>The teenage son of the Merced County district attorney was arraigned on drunken-driving manslaughter charges Wednesday in connection with the early morning crash Saturday on Highway 116 near Stony Point Road that killed the driver of another car.</p><p>In his first appearance in Sonoma County court, Dylan Morse, 18, stood with his hands clasped behind his back as his family and family members of the victim looked on. He did not enter a plea.</p><p>Prosecutor Bob Waner said a breath test officers gave Morse after the crash showed he had a 0.15 blood-alcohol level, almost twice the legal limit of 0.08 for driving. The results of a blood test are pending.</p><p>The CHP has said Morse ran a red light at 70 mph in a 1998 Volvo, broad-siding a 1988 Honda driven by Alex Ruiz, 22, of Oakland at 2:20 a.m. Ruiz, a Calistoga High School graduate and a Bay Area art school student, died at the scene.</p><p>The fatality is the fifth this year in Sonoma County, and each involved underage drunken drivers, according to the CHP.</p><p>Passengers in both cars were seriously injured. Morse's friend, Sonoma State University student Ryne Spitzer, 19, of Merced, remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Ruiz's passenger, Vanessa King, 25, of Berkeley, was released from the hospital after being treated for a broken arm and collarbone.</p><p>Morse, who wasn't injured in the crash, was arraigned on five criminal charges, including vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated but without gross negligence, drunken driving, having alcohol in his vehicle and possessing a fake driver's license.</p><p>Waner said it was "a really good fake license" that showed Morse was of legal drinking age.</p><p>Judge Elliot Daum denied The Press Democrat's request to photograph the hearing Wednesday after both Waner and Morse's attorney, Chris Andrian, objected. Both attorneys said they were worried that additional media coverage could affect potential jurors' opinions of the case.</p><p>"This is a case that has already received quite a bit of press coverage," Waner said, "not only in Sonoma County but in other counties as well."</p><p>Morse's father, Larry Morse II, is the elected district attorney in Merced County, serving as the Central Valley county's top prosecutor of criminal cases. He did not attend Wednesday's hearing. On Sunday, he issued a statement saying his family was heartbroken that their son's actions caused the death of another young man.</p><p>Waner said the elder Morse's position "is not a factor our office is considering" in prosecuting the case.</p><p>Andrian asked for additional time before Morse enters a plea so he could digest the police reports.</p><p>"Typically these cases take more time because you need to do forensic analysis and other things," Andrian said. "But if the case can be settled or should be settled, I'm not going to foreclose that."</p><p>Morse postponed entering a plea until a hearing next Thursday, when Daum also will reconsider the bail amount.</p><p>He is being held in Sonoma County Jail on $180,000 bail. Probation Department officials will review the case and make a recommendation on bail to Daum on Feb. 26.</p><p>Andrian said Morse has no criminal record. Morse was in Sonoma County to visit his friend Spitzer, a pre-business major at SSU.</p><p>Ruiz's father, a home builder who lives in Calistoga, has said the family feels compassion for Morse but said the young man needs to take responsibility for his actions.</p><p>Ruiz and his passenger, King, were driving home to the East Bay after a musical gig in Sebastopol, where Ruiz was working as a sound technician. Ruiz was the lead singer of his own band, Tear it Down, and had been doing side jobs to earn more money.</p><p>He was six months away from earning a bachelor's degree in sound engineering at Ex'pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, his father said.</p><p>Memorial services for Ruiz are this weekend in Calistoga.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.</p>