The state has asked to present evidence of past domestic violence convictions in the upcoming murder trial for Bradley Joe Morales.

Morales, 27, is charged in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend, Sharmaine Leake, 25, in Minot in August 2017. He is set to go to trial on the Class AA murder charge in district court in Minot on April 16 before Judge Doug Mattson. However, his attorney Steven Mottinger has filed a motion to continue the trial for four or five weeks. Mottinger writes that he needs more time to prepare for trial. A hearing on a motion to continue is scheduled for Thursday before Mattson.

In one motion to the court, Ward County State’s Attorney Rozanna Larson has asked to present evidence of Morales’ prior “bad acts and conduct with the victim.”

Morales is accused of stabbing Leake in the neck during an apparent domestic altercation on Aug. 16, 2017, at Leake’s southeast Minot residence. Their three children were present in the home at the time.

Larson notes in the motion that Morales had been in a relationship with Leake for 10 years and that he had been convicted of assaulting Leake on at least four prior occasions. At the time of Leake’s death, Morales had a burglary charge pending against him in district court in Minot for allegedly kicking in her door.

“On the scene of the murder and in the interview with law enforcement (Morales) makes self-incriminating statements relating to the escalation of domestic violence,” Larson writes in the motion. “He makes statements regarding his justification (and minimizes) for hitting her. These statements corroborate the prior bad acts and crimes. Evidence of the prior bad acts and crimes provide a whole context of the crime charged proving the defendant’s intent.”

Larson notes that Morales spoke in the interview with detectives about his frustration with Leake and with their relationship. In the interview, Larson writes that Morales acknowledged slapping and punching Leake. Morales told the detective, “I feel like I never really hit her like I would hit a man.” Morales also complained to the officer that Leake had called him names. He said “…lately she’s just really been getting out of hand, though.”

“It is the State’s position that the above statements provide the jury with the whole story of the relationship between the defendant and (the victim),” wrote Larson in the motion. “It provides a context of the defendant’s state of mind, motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity or absence of mistake.”

Mattson has not yet ruled on whether to permit the state to introduce the evidence of Morales’ past convictions at trial.

On the day of the stabbing, according to a probable cause affidavit and statements made at his preliminary hearing, Morales told police he and the woman were fighting after another man called Leake’s cell phone. Morales thought the other man might be coming over to the residence and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. He was going out to to his vehicle to grab a pair of shoes and Leake followed him, still arguing. They had another physical confrontation in the residence and Leake was stabbed in the neck. Leake was afraid of Morales and ran from him onto the front lawn, where she collapsed. Morales later told detectives he had only wanted to scare Leake and didn’t mean to harm her. He called 911 and can be heard saying on the recording, “I’m sorry, Mama” and “When that man called, I just lost it.” When the ambulance arrived, Morales was pressing a kitchen towel to Leake’s wound. Police performed CPR on Leake and she was taken to the hospital, but she never regained consciousness and died on Aug. 22, 2017. Their three young children were taken to a neighbor’s house after the stabbing. Morales has been forbidden by a judge from having any contact with the children.

Other district court records also tell the story of a volatile, on-again, off-again relationship between Morales and Leake, one that was often marked by domestic violence and relatively light sentences for Morales.

Morales pleaded guilty in October 2012 to simple assault and was ordered to take an anger management class. In 2013, Morales pleaded guilty again to simple assault-domestic violence after he punched his ex-girlfriend in the face and took her cell phone away. He was angry she had gone out to the bar the night before. A judge ordered him to to take a class for domestic violence offenders. In 2015, Morales pleaded guilty to punching his ex-girlfriend in the back of the head and stomping on her face with his shoes on because she had asked him to stop playing loud video games. The judge sentenced him to 30 days in jail, with 20 days suspended, for the misdemeanor simple assault-domestic violence conviction and ordered him to take another domestic violence offenders class.

On Feb. 25, 2017, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, he was accused of kicking in the door to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. His ex-girlfriend told police he hadn’t lived there for months and didn’t have a right to be there. That case was dismissed after Leake’s death because the alleged victim was unavailable to testify against Morales.

On June 25, 2017, according to a probable cause affidavit in another case, the woman called police and said Morales had spread her wet clothes on the garage floor and driven over them and slashed the tires on her car while she was out with a friend. Morales didn’t live with the woman, but did come over to her place to watch their children and kept clothes at the residence. Morales agreed to leave for the night, but two hours later the woman called police and said she was locked in her garage and was afraid Morales was going to hurt her. She had allegedly retaliated by pouring bleach over Morales’ clothing and leaving them in the driveway. Morales told police he had come back to see if the woman would let him remove the rest of his property from the residence. No charges were pressed against Morales for that incident, but Morales did want to press charges against the woman for destroying his clothing. A misdemeanor criminal mischief charge was pending at the time of the stabbing, but the woman never made an appearance on the charge in court.

Larson refers to the victim as “Jane Doe” in the motion. Leake’s family has claimed Marsy’s Law rights on her behalf. However, Minot police have identified the victim as Leake and social media postings also have identified her as Leake.