By MARYCLAIRE DALE The Associated Press Thursday, August 23, 2007; 8:36 PM
BLUE BELL, Pa. -- A Muslim woman charged with killing her husband before he left to visit a second wife had endured repeated tragedies, including the loss of his affection and the death of a child, her lawyer said.
Myra Morton, 47, briefly appeared in court Thursday, where her lawyer waived a preliminary hearing due to what he called "concern for her emotional welfare."
Morton is charged with fatally shooting Jereleigh Morton in their bed, hours before he was to visit a Moroccan woman he married earlier this year. Both sides believe Myra Morton was upset that her husband wanted to have children with her younger rival.
Myra Morton endured numerous indignities, including "the idea that he was going to give that woman money that had come from the death of her child," defense lawyer Brian McMonagle said Thursday. The Mortons' only surviving child is a married daughter.
The Mortons received about $8 million in a 2005 medical malpractice settlement over their teenage daughter's death. Jereleigh Morton was sending his new wife $3,000 in monthly support, according to a police affidavit.
Prosecutors say he met the other woman, 37-year-old Zahra Toural, last year on the Internet. In keeping with Muslim custom, Myra Morton traveled to Morocco to bless the marriage, but police say she grew to resent the arrangement. Her husband allegedly said if she didn't like it, she should get a divorce.
Prosecutor Steven Latzer rejected the suggestion that Myra Morton deserved sympathy as the shunned wife in a love triangle, saying, "This is a cold-blooded woman who murdered her husband."
Myra Morton is ineligible for bail. Questioned by reporters Thursday about the slaying, she declined to comment.
posted
I bet you she is remorseful now with deep regret. She had other options one of which her dead husband recommended: divorce
Bigamy is a crime in the US and she could’ve exposed him. Murder is never good, the proceedings and verdict should be interesting. I expect the Moroccan wife to file in civil court to seek retribution for wrongful death.
She'll probably lose everything including her freedom.
Posts: 2079 | From: 'by any means necessary' - Malcom X | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
Yes you are right; she could have nailed him big time for bigamy - at least in certain states. I still would assume that she also committed this crime in the heat of passion.
I don't think his Moroccan wife will get anything out of his death especially not under PA law as she was not legally his wife. But she still might try to get a piece of this large medical malpractice settlement although it will take money upfront and much time..... and it might not be successful after all.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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Slain bigamist's Moroccan wife reeling from death
Aug 14, 2007 10:23 PM (11 days ago) By JOHN THORNE, AP
SALE, Morocco (Map, News) - Zahra Toural was shocked by the shooting death of her husband in the United States. But the Moroccan woman was just as alarmed when her American friend - who was also married to the victim - was charged in his killing.
"We did everything together, and she was a sister and a friend," Toural, 36, told The Associated Press in an interview in her home Tuesday, dressed in traditional mourning garb of a white gown and headscarf. "She said she was happy here."
Toural and her extended Moroccan family are reeling from the death last week of Jereleigh Morton, shot while sleeping at his home outside Philadelphia. His first wife, Myra Morton, turned herself in Thursday to face murder and related charges.
The killing happened hours before Jereleigh Morton was to travel to Morocco to try to conceive a baby with Toural.
The death shocked their Pennsylvania community, and its repercussions reached across the Atlantic to this neighborhood on the outskirts of Sale, near the Moroccan capital Rabat.
A long series of rundown apartment blocks runs down the street like a line of old teeth. Laundry and satellite dishes adorn rooftops. An empty lot nearby serves as a communal garbage dump.
Toural said that for Myra Morton, the neighborhood became a second home. "She said she loved Morocco and the whole family loved her. She brought us gifts and helped me improve my English," Toural said.
But according to friends and family, Myra Morton, 47, was against her husband's decision to take a second wife after Myra lost the ability to have children.
Islam allows men to marry up to four women, provided they secure the approval of their other wives and are able to provide equally for all of them. Prosecutors have said they aren't sure whether Pennsylvania's polygamy ban would apply to a marriage in a foreign country.
Montgomery County prosecutors charged Morton with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and related counts. They suggested that jealousy and control of the Mortons' more than $6 million in assets were possible motives for the killing.
At least some of Jereleigh Morton's estate may go to Toural if Pennsylvania courts choose to recognize her marriage in Morocco to Morton, said her lawyer Patrick Artur, reached by telephone in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The Mortons, who hail from North Philadelphia, converted to Islam over 20 years ago. They lived in a small Philadelphia row house until a medical malpractice settlement over their teenage daughter's death netted them a reported $8 million in 2005.
They paid $1 million cash for a sprawling suburban home, and Jereleigh retired from his job as a handyman to dabble in real estate. They lived in the home with their surviving daughter and her family.
Jereleigh Morton met Toural on the Internet in December 2006, and Toural said she and Myra Morton became instant friends when the Mortons first visited Morocco last February.
"Jereleigh said from the beginning that he wanted to have children, and Myra didn't have any problem with him taking a second wife," Toural said.
Toural acted as witness to Jereleigh and Myra Morton's official conversion to Islam before a Moroccan judge, a prerequisite for Jereleigh Morton to be able to marry Toural. Morton bought a large house for the trio to use in Casablanca, Morocco's commercial capital.
"He was talking about getting into business in Morocco and building a big aquarium, because that's something we don't have here," Toural remembered. In her handbag, Toural keeps a photo of the Casablanca house's living room, furnished with overstuffed divans and embroidered drapes.
Myra Morton spent all of last May with Toural and her family while Jereleigh was in the U.S., Toural said.
However, Montgomery County authorities said in the affidavit that Morton had complained to friends and family about Toural. Her mother-in-law, Delzora Morton, told detectives that she advised Myra Morton to "walk away" from the marriage.
In April, Myra Morton sent a letter to immigration authorities that ended up at the U.S. State Department.
In it, she wrote that her husband was trying to bring Toural over on a tourist visa. She also urged the government to keep Toural out of the United States, going so far as to accuse the other woman of having connections to terrorists.
"How could she do that?" said Toural, her voice breaking. "I'm not a terrorist. I'm a good person. I took care of her."
Toural said she finds it equally hard to accept that she is a widow.
"I'm still in shock. I still ask myself if (Jereleigh) is really gone."
Toural and the other adults in her extended family haven't told her young nieces and nephews that Myra Morton is charged with murdering her husband. But Toural's traditional mourning garb betrays the fact that he is dead.
"I feel sad. I lost my husband after I just started with him five months ago." She stopped and sobbed a little. "I miss him."
"Prosecutors have said they aren't sure whether Pennsylvania's polygamy ban would apply to a marriage in a foreign country."
"At least some of Jereleigh Morton's estate may go to Toural if Pennsylvania courts choose to recognize her marriage in Morocco to Morton, said her lawyer Patrick Artur, reached by telephone in Philadelphia on Tuesday."
I guess there might be some hope in for her after all.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Tigerlily: Yes you are right; she could have nailed him big time for bigamy - at least in certain states. I still would assume that she also committed this crime in the heat of passion.
I don't think his Moroccan wife will get anything out of his death especially not under US law as she was not legally his wife. But she still might try to get a piece of this large medical malpractice settlement although it will take money upfront and much time..... and it might not be successful after all.
Interesting point lilly, very interesting indeed! So while US law does not recognize her as a wife could she still bring about civil charges and claim she is now deprived of the $3,000 monthly allotment? Perhaps Snoozin would know this as she is a family lawyer. And if not suppose she files for wrongful death in Morocco where she is recognized as a legal wife would such ruling be recognized in the States?
This case very interesting, thanks for the article.
Posts: 2079 | From: 'by any means necessary' - Malcom X | Registered: Mar 2007
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"... Prosecutors said Myra Morton, 47, killed her husband, Jereleigh Morton, also 47, inside their $1-million Whitpain Township home on Sunday, hours before he was set to fly to Morocco to try to impregnate his second wife.
...They said Jereleigh Morton had packed a suitcase full of gifts -- including clothing, cash, shoes and lingerie -- that he planned to take to on his scheduled flight that day.
Prosecutors said he wanted to have a son with his Moroccan wife, Zahra Toural, who was ovulating. They met on the Internet and married in March.
Family and friends said his wife Myra Morton knew about the second marriage and even signed the proper documents allowing it -- but added that she was unhappy with the situation and did not back his plans to have a child with the new wife.
She told friends that she was upset her husband was "no longer paying attention to her," First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.
Prosecutors added that Jereleigh Morton had previously bought Toural a new home and gave her $3,000 within one month...."
IMO she could not deal with the situation properly - it is a case of jealousy and she also felt neglected by her husband.
Does it justify murder? Of course not. A rational thinking person would not commit this kind of crime.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
If he married her in a legal marriage in Morocco, how did he get the paper from the American Embassy to say that he was free to marry her? It looks like he must have had a civil or orfi marriage with her...it will be interesting to see whether or not this marriage is recognized.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
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The death of a child places stress on a marriage and many marriages do not survive.
During the recovery, the parents see themselves as 'different people'; it is known that mothers and fathers react to the death differently.
The husband in this case went for another woman, and to have another child.
Even if the wife accepted the situation, or pretended to accept, her inner emotions, fears, insecurities, grief, sadness were obviously not taken care of, properly.
She emotionally collapsed, and that was expressed in the form of a 'cold blooded murder'.
Remarkably, in our women's prisons here in Egypt this situation is the 'norm'.
posted
All women who love their husband are expierencing emotional problems when their husband takes another wife besides them, as all husbands should do the same when this should happen to them. I am sure and convinced about that. Even when having more then one partner should be acceptable in cultural customs, it hurts, because it is considered as a personal failure and rejection.
When the death of a child seems to be the cause of it, there was not enough communicaton between the two of them. It`s sad, but common, because we all are different personalities who all process our own misfortunes in our own way....
-------------------- “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” Posts: 7202 | From: EU | Registered: Nov 2006
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posted
I also never ever want to share my man to any women, except his mom and brothers only! Posts: 756 | From: ...be solution... | Registered: Jul 2007
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Considering what many wives in some of these Arab countries go through, it's a wonder that such an event doesn't happen more.
Posts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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