Second of 3 defendants in Lamar slaying ordered to stand trial
Jun. 3—LAMAR, Mo. — The second of three defendants charged in the slaying of a Lamar man waived a preliminary hearing this week.
David W. Morris, 33, of Duenweg, waived the hearing Tuesday in Barton County Circuit Court on a charge of second-degree murder. Associate Judge James Nichols set the defendant's initial appearance in a trial division for June 17.
Morris and stepbrothers Lane R. Bronson, 27, of Webb City, and Tre R. Ackerson, 26, of Joplin, are charged with the slaying of 51-year-old Terry Harless.
An officer responding to a report of shots fired in the early morning hours of July 13 in Lamar found the front door of the residence at 710 Broadway standing wide open with Harless' body lying in the doorway. He had been shot multiple times.
Investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Southwest Missouri Major Case Squad believe fingerprints, ballistics evidence and DNA — as well as information obtained from witnesses and from the victim's Facebook account — tie Morris, Ackerson and Bronson to the slaying.
Bronson was ordered to stand trial on a count of second-degree murder after a preliminary hearing Jan. 19. Ackerson has not yet had a preliminary hearing.
