Morro Bay stabbing defendant pleads not guilty to murder
A Morro Bay man accused of a stabbing that left another man dead has pleaded not guilty in the murder case against him.
Sean C. Maneely, 53, was in San Luis Obispo Superior Court Thursday for his second arraignment on a charge of murder, after entering no plea in his first appearance last Friday, which was attended by the alleged victim’s family.
Maneely is accused of fatally stabbing 58-year-old Andrew McTaggart at about 3:49 p.m. Jan. 25 near the Morro Bay Self Storage building in the 1100 block of Allesandro Street.
McTaggart, who was stabbed in the upper left chest area, was given emergency aid on scene and transported by ambulance to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, where he later died of his injuries.
Morro Bay Police Chief Jody Cox previously told The Tribune that several individuals at the scene told responding officers that two males had been involved in a physical altercation prior to the stabbing.
Cox said Maneely and McTaggart knew each other and both lived in Morro Bay. Maneely was arrested at the scene.
On Thursday, Maneely was led into the courtroom from a back holding area wearing a gray collared shirt and sat next to his public defender, Patricia Ashbaugh.
Media in the courtroom were prohibited from photographing him in his handcuffs or anywhere in the courtroom but in his seat.
After entering his not guilty pleas, Superior Court Judge Dodie Harman scheduled another procedural court hearing for Feb. 13.
Maneely will remain in custody at the San Luis Obispo County Jail without bail until then.
The Morro Bay resident’s case brings to 12 the number of ongoing murder cases being tried by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office, and the first to occur in Morro Bay since December 2016.
Last year saw the county’s highest number of homicides since 2012.
In the first eight months of 2019, the county recorded six homicides, and six people are currently facing murder charges related to those cases. That’s a rate of roughly 2.1 homicides for every 100,000 residents.
In August 2019, due to the strain of representing its high number of clients facing murder charges — including two possibly facing the death penalty — the public defender’s office was granted a budget increase to hire another full-time attorney with murder case experience.
Maneely’s murder case is the first filed in San Luis Obispo County in 2020.
Though he was represented at Thursday’s hearing by Ashbaugh, head of the law firm SLO Defenders, which contracts the county’s public defender services, it is unclear whether that office will continue to represent him in future proceedings.
