Marcus Morris' lawyers waive court appearance, seek new grand jury

Marcus Morris and his twin brother are among five men being accused of beating up a man back in January at a Phoenix recreation center. The prosecution's seeking aggravated assault charges against all five men, including the Morris twins, who pleaded not guilty to the charges in May.

Marcus Morris and his twin brother were scheduled to appear at the Maricopa County Superior Court on Monday morning for a related hearing, but their attorneys waived the scheduled appearance, filing a travel request, according to The Republic in Arizona. They're currently due back in court next month.

In the meantime, the defense attorneys are requesting the Judge return the case to the grand jury, claiming in a motion filed last month that the prosecution presented "false and misleading evidence" and withheld vital information that resulted in the twins' indictment. The link has more on what the defense attorneys put in their motion.

As the story is told by the man who got beat up, simply put, the Morris twins supposedly found text messages from Hood to the twins' mother and the twins didn't like that very much. The brothers deny being involved in the incident and even knowing the man, but authorities claim there's a witness who positively identified the brothers as part of the attack.

An aggravated assault in Arizona is a felony and carries with it the possibility of 5-15 years in prison. In all likelihood, Marcus Morris probably isn't going to jail for this, but it sounds like the process could carry into the season and could then be a distraction to the starting small forward and his new team. Baggage I'm sure Stan Van and his team checked carefully prior to acquiring Morris via trade, but baggage nonetheless.

Now your thoughts.