DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware’s Supreme Court has rejected a former pediatrician’s effort to delay his prison sentence for abusing the daughter of his longtime companion.
Melvin Morse was sentenced to three years in prison last month for abuse that included holding the girl’s head under a faucet, a practice described in court as “waterboarding.”
Morse sought to delay his prison sentence until the judge held a hearing to determine whether Delaware’s prison system could handle Morse’s preferred course of treatment for prostate cancer and a thyroid condition.
The Supreme Court ruled late last week that Morse had not shown that the trial judge arbitrarily failed or refused to perform a duty owed to Morse by refusing to delay imposition of his sentence.
Morse has filed a separate appeal challenging his conviction and sentence.
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