Convicted child rapist Morgenstern will not receive new trial, judge rules

Craig Morgenstern will not get a new trial after being found guilty by a jury of multiple child sex crimes spanning at least three states, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Morgenstern, 47, had argued a juror slept during presentation of evidence at trial in February and that another had inappropriately communicated with prosecutors after a guilty verdict was rendered, just a few hours after closing arguments were presented. After a half hour of questioning jurors, U.S. District court Judge William F. Nielsen denied Morgenstern’s request for a new trial.

Morgenstern, who was arrested after Stevens County Sheriff’s deputies responded to his neighborhood in October 2014 and found a boy who’d fled the former Veteran Affairs doctor’s home and described molestation, faces a potential life sentence at sentencing, scheduled for June 15. Digital evidence seized from his home indicated additional crimes involving the drugging and filming of boys while Morgenstern had sex with them.