Sentencing set in Wonderland case

PALMER - The man described as being the least culpable of the three defendants in the 1998 beating death of Wesley Beanie Morton in Wonderland Park in Wasilla will be sentenced today by Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith.

Matthew McWaters, 21, pled no contest to manslaughter last July after reaching an agreement with the state, in which he promised he would testify against his co-defendants in exchange for a sentence of 15 years imprisonment. If McWaters does receive the agreed-upon sentence, he could be eligible for parole in five years.

At McWaters July hearing, his attorney, Darrel Gardner, said McWaters did very little in terms of causing any real physical injury to Morton, 42, and was the only one of the three who showed any remorse or fear of the consequences.

District Attorney Roman Kalytiak agreed McWaters had the least amount of involvement in the murder, and that it was McWaters who had come forward and asked to assist the state. McWaters admitted kicking Morton three or four times during the attack.

McWaters was the only eyewitness to testify at the murder trial of his half-brother, Garrett Osborn, last month. His testimony may have been an important factor in a jury convicting Osborn of first- and second-degree murder.

Last October, Jonathan Walker, 18, received a 70-year sentence after he pled guilty to first-degree murder in the attack on Morton, whose viciously beaten body was found Oct. 8, 1998, by a couple walking their dog in Wonderland Park. Morton had been so severely beaten the state medical examiner had to use fingerprints to positively identify him.

In addition to suffering wounds from the beating and stabbing, every rib in Mortons chest was broken and his pancreas was torn.

Expert testimony in the Osborn trial revealed Morton was still alive when the three men left him lying on the ground dying in sub-freezing temperatures. None of the defendants called an ambulance for Morton or contacted police.