Danny L. Duley, 46, is handcuffed at the end of his sentencing hearing Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He received a sentence of 10 to 13 1/2 years in prison for shooting the mother of his child in the face Nov. 2, 2021, at their home on South Schenley Avenue in Youngstown. At right is his attorney, Rhys Cartwright-Jones.

YOUNGSTOWN — As a result of Danny L. Duley shooting Bobbijo Morrison in the temple area of her head Nov. 2, 2021, Morrison has numbness on the side of her head, “countless headaches” and cannot lift her arm above her head.

“Mentally, I have been diagnosed with (post traumatic stress disorder), flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety and depression,” she told Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio on Tuesday.

“The amount of pills I have to take on a daily basis is ridiculous,” she said. “I have lived in fear for the last year, and I have had to learn how to protect myself and my son.”

Because their 5-year-old son was with her when the shooting took place at their home on South Schenley Avenue, “Our son witnessed his mother being shot at the hands of his own father,” she said.

Morrison gave the statements during Duley’s sentencing hearing. Duley, 46, pleaded guilty in October to felonious assault with a three-year gun specification and misdemeanor domestic violence.

Donofrio sentenced Duley to 10 to 13 1/2 years in prison.

A Youngstown police report stated that Morrison was still conscious when police arrived and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Duley was not at the scene when police arrived, but he later returned home and was taken into custody. Morrison told police the two argued and then Duley told her he was going to kill her, then shot her. He tried to shoot her a second time, but his gun jammed, a police report states.

ARGUMENT

Caitlyn Andrews, assistant county prosecutor, told Donofrio that Duley and Morrison had been arguing for a couple of weeks before the shooting.

“They were back and forth regarding whether they were going to continue their relationship. He found out she was seeing someone else,” Andrews said. On Nov. 2, 2021, he told her: “Give me your phone. She refused to do so, so he pulls a gun out on her while they were arguing. She never thought he would actually hurt her,” Andrews said.

“She yelled for their 5-year-old son to come with her because she wanted to leave so he could calm down. She goes to the front door, turns to grab her son and he shoots her once in the left temple. She falls to the ground and when she hits the ground, she starts to feel paralyzed almost on one side of her body,” Andrews said.

She was “screaming for help,” Andrews said. Duley, meanwhile, is “messing with the gun and saying that it was jammed,” Andrews said.

Neighbors heard the screams and gunshot and came over to help, Andrews said. “They saw the defendant in the doorway with the gun in his hand,” Andrews said.

Duley told police Morrison was “cheating on him,” and that “while he was yelling, he accidentally shot her,” Andrews said.

Morrison also suffered multiple fractured ribs and vertebrae from the fall and a contusion on one lung. Andrews asked the judge to give Duley 10 to 13 1/2 years in prison.

NEARLY FATAL

She gave the judge a photo of Morrison’s gunshot wound when she was in the hospital. “You can see how close this gunshot wound is to her temple,” Andrews said. “If this would have been just a little further, this would have been a fatal gunshot,” Andrews said.

Andrews said it is apparent that Duley intended to kill Morrison because he tried to shoot again. “How else would he know the gun jammed if he didn’t try to shoot it again?”

Rhys Cartwright-Jones, Duley’s attorney, told the judge that Duley suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2014 in an auto accident. A Nov. 17, 2022, psychological assessment indicated that Duley suffers from major depressive disorder as a result of his brain injury, Cartwright-Jones said.

He said Duley’s brain and psychological issues, coupled with Morrison “point blank telling Mr. Duley she was cheating on him and that she was going to take his kid from him” presented one of the toughest circumstances a person can encounter in a relationship, Cartwright-Jones said.

This type of “provocation” is recognized in criminal law in Ohio, for instance, in reducing a murder to manslaughter, Cartwright-Jones said.

Breanna Duley, Danny Duley’s daughter, told the judge the sentencing decision will affect not only her father, “but whether or not he attends my wedding” and whether he will he will be around when she has her first child.

erunyan@vindy.com