July 29, 2016
For Immediate Release
According to the State Attorney’s Office:
Circuit Judge Hentz McClellan sentenced Nicholas Keith Morris on Friday to 40 years in prison, followed by 10 years probation, for the murder of Morris’ fiancée. Chief Assistant State Attorney Larry Basford told McClellan that Morris, 28, of 128 Sims Ave., Apt. B, Callaway, called 911 and confessed to killing Cortney Adkinson, 27, on Nov. 17. When Bay County deputies arrived, they found Morris laying in the road outside his residence, covered in Adkinson’s blood. Inside, they found Adkinson in the bedroom with her throat slit.
Morris told investigators that he cut Adkinson’s throat while the two were in bed because voices told him to, then smothered her with his hands until she stopped moving. Adkinson died of asphyxiation. Morris pleaded no contest to second degree murder, waived all mentalhealth defenses and McClellan sentenced him along the terms of the agreement to 40 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation. A condition of his probation will be that Morris, who is schizophrenic, must stay on his medications.
Adkison’s mother, Teresa Schaffer, told McClellan that Morris would “get justice when he met his maker.” She and Inv. Stephen Jencks of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office were in the courtroom and were in agreement with the conditions of the plea.