Andrew Reed Morrill, who summoned deputies to help him in January 2016 because a woman was attacking him with a baseball bat, was sentenced Jan. 11 to eight years in prison for child molestation and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

The woman who was hitting Morrill was the mother of two boys, both younger than age 12. She had arrived home from grocery shopping and had learned Morrill had been in a locked room with one of her sons. She found her son with a vibrating device in his hands, explained Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Julie St. Marie.

“The reason for the attack was Mama Bear was really upset when she learned the defendant showed her son how to masturbate with the vibrating device,” St. Marie said. Deputies interviewed the boy, who told them Morrill had used the device on himself and on the boy.

Morrill, 60, said nothing when he was sentenced Jan. 11 in Jefferson County Superior Court by Judge Brian Coughenour of Clallam County. He was represented by attorney Noah Harrison of Port Townsend, who noted that Morrill has no prior felonies. Morrill had worked as a musician, Harrison said.

Morrill was sentenced to 85 months on first-degree child molestation after being convicted in a December 2016 trial. He was sentenced to 364 days on a gross misdemeanor charge of communication with a minor for immoral purposes stemming from a conviction in a separate trial in July 2016.

St. Marie said the jury in December 2016 also found that Morrill was guilty on an aggravating factor of an “ongoing pattern of sexual abuse over a prolonged period of time,” which allowed Judge Coughenour to impose a sentence outside the standard range of 51-68 months.

Coughenour handled the case after St. Marie filed an affidavit of prejudice against Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Keith Harper.

“The state is satisfied that this sentence appropriately reflects the seriousness of Mr. Morrill’s criminal acts, and protects community safety,” St. Marie said.

Morrill is to be on community supervision for the rest of his life and required to register as a sex offender, St. Marie said. He was to be moved from Jefferson County Jail to the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, until the facility where he is to serve his sentence is determined.

INITIAL CHARGE

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office first responded to a cabin where Morrill was living after Morrill reported being struck with a baseball bat by a woman, according to an incident report filed in Jefferson County Superior Court.

Two deputies arrived and were told by the woman that she had caught Morrill in a “sexual situation” with one of her sons. The older boy told officers that he and Morrill were alone inside the cabin and that Morrill had used a back-massage-style vibrator. Asked how often he had seen Morrill use the vibrator, the youth told deputies, “It has happened so many times, I couldn’t even count how many times.”

The older boy said that Morrill also had done similar things to his younger brother, who was 6 years old at the time.

Morrill was arrested Jan. 30, 2016 on suspicion of first-degree child molestation.

Deputies subsequently interviewed the two brothers. In February 2016, Morrill was charged with rape of a child, two counts of first-degree child molestation, one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes and one count of indecent exposure involving a victim younger than 14, according to court documents.

In a trial in July 2016, Morrill was convicted of one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes. The jury was hung on a count of child rape and child molestation initially filed on one child and one count of child molestation filed on the other child.

Prosecutors decided to retry the case in December. One count of first-degree child molestation was dismissed due to insufficient evidence following the older boy’s testimony at trial, according to a state sentencing memorandum. The jury convicted Morrill on Dec. 7 of one count of first-degree child molestation with an aggravating factor of an ongoing pattern of sexual abuse over a prolonged period of time. A charge of rape also was dismissed.

Prosecutors presented evidence at the December trial that Morrill engaged in “various forms of sexual behavior/grooming” related to one child within days of the family moving onto the property where Morrill lived. The incidents occurred between September 2015 and January 2016 in Chimacum.

The woman was not charged with assaulting Morrill. She and her sons have since moved to another county, St. Marie said.