When Jacob Matthew Morgan, also known as Matt Morgan, set fire to his South Carolina house at 17, he killed his fourteen-month-old brother. According to court records, Matt Morgan would light at least two fires inside the trailer house before he left. After he purposefully left his fourteen-month-old sibling inside the burning house, authorities would prosecute him with murder. According to his parents, Matt Morgan is autistic and has several other mental health conditions, who also reported this to the authorities. Regardless, this adolescent murderer would receive a fifteen-year prison term. Let’s know more about Jacob Matthew Morgan and this case!
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News Related Jacob Matthew Morgan
A York County boy charged with killing his half-brother, who was 14 months old, entered a guilty plea to unlawful conduct with a child and involuntary manslaughter in court on Tuesday. The Department of Corrections will house 17-year-old Jacob Matthew Morgan for 15 years.
After Joshua Hill, Morgan’s infant half-brother, died in a fire at his Rock Hill mobile home in March, Morgan, also known to friends as Matt, got into custody last year. Instead of murder, Morgan admitted to charging with criminal conduct toward a child and not homicide by child abuse. The teen also pleaded to third-degree rather than first-degree arson, asserting his innocence.
Prosecutors claimed Morgan made several contradictory claims last year before finally confessing to lighting the fire. Fire patterns revealed two fires started, and investigators stated that Morgan’s explanations were inconsistent.
To make the fire appear accidental, both fires likely started at or close to probable heat sources, including heaters, according to SLED investigator William Keller. Emotional, Morgan expressed his love for his brother and hoped he could have saved him in court on Tuesday. Morgan remarked, “To murder him would be to destroy a part of myself.”
The prosecution informed the judge that the fire originated from the living room and Hill’s sleeping bedroom. Before the mobile house catching fire, Morgan had accusations of lighting tea candles.
It may be debatable if he had any premeditated plans to kill his brother, but it is undeniable that he started the fire that ultimately killed him, according to Thompson.
According to the prosecution, Jacob Matthew Morgan had a cell phone but never requested assistance. Family members continue to support the older brother despite the evidence against him.
The obligatory minimum sentence for first-degree arson is 30 years in prison. After speaking with the public attorney, Morgan took the Alford plea, acknowledging that the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence to convict him.
“Because we know our kid, we have always believed in his innocence. We know how bad the evidence against him is; Morgan’s mother, Julie, testified in court. According to the prosecution, the agreement and the sentence Morgan will receive in prison are satisfactory. According to Deputy Solicitor Thompson, the victim’s family was the same as the suspect’s, and they both wanted no legal action.
“The family’s friends and neighbors were adamant that we not at all prosecute him. But since this was a crime, that was not an option, Thompson said. The family of Morgan feels as though they are losing another son.
Although the agony won’t go away, Myke Hill expressed hope that it might become less intense. After his release, Jacob Matthew Morgan will be placed on a five-year probationary period, but if he breaks any of the conditions, he could be sent to prison for 15 years.
Jacob Morgan: Where Is He Now?
He was detained for teen negligence, negligent homicide, and third arson in 2016. He should spend the remaining 15 years of his life behind bars. The prisoner didn’t release following his second session on May 18, 2022. Since March 2015, Jacob Matt Morgan has been behind bars after being charged with killing his half-brother Joshua Alexander Hill.
On October 26, 2021, he acknowledged killing the victim. When Jacob Matthew Morgan set his home on fire in 2015 to kill his 14-month-old sibling, he was just 17 years old. As a result, he suffered some charges with third-degree arson endangering teens, and inciting separatism.
Recent developments about Jacob Morgan’s parole:
According to the courthouse file, he ignited two fires within the home, one from the left of the newborn and the other from the left of the house, although Morgan has not stated how the fires got created.
He initially said he accidentally flung a pillow but later changed his story to say he lit one on fire and threw it into the air. Authorities think the parlor and main bedroom, where the newborn infant slept, are where the fire started.
On May 18, a juvenile killer in South Carolina had served seven years in prison for only starting a fatal fire in Rock Hill. He would have finished the first half of the term at that point. A South Carolina Parole Board panel rejected Jacob’s request for parole unanimously.
Refusal of Jacob Matt Morgan’s parole:
A South Carolina man serving a seven-year sentence for starting a fire in Rock Hill that killed his infant sibling was released on Wednesday. Despite that denial, state law appears to allow Jacob Matthew Morgan’s early release from jail in December. He would have completed around half of a 15-year sentence by that time. Following a video conference hearing, a panel of the South Carolina Parole Board unanimously decided not to provide Morgan, now 24 years old, the opportunity to be released, according to Valerie Suber, associate deputy director of the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
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The Columbia parole board had also gathered. Morgan, a prisoner at Berkeley County’s MacDougall Correctional Institute, attended the parole hearing. After rejection at his first parole hearing in May 2021, he had another one. The younger brother of Morgan Hill, Joshua Hill, had his killing in a mobile home fire in March 2015 in York County, close to Rock Hill, when he was just 14 months old. At the time, Morgan was watching the kids. Furthermore, the incident received widespread media coverage. These were the complete details about Jacob Matthew Morgan!
