This image was taken from John Morgan’s dashcam and was played for the jury in Morgan’s murder trial Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. It shows Morgan, left, after firing his gun at Daniel Peek Sr. as Peek ran toward the backyard. At right is Mary Morgan, John Morgan’s estranged wife, who was living with Peek at the time.

YOUNGSTOWN — Murder defendant John E. Morgan, 47, of Campbell, whose girlfriend described him as a “shy teddy bear,” spent hours on the witness stand Tuesday morning as the final witness in his trial. He is accused of murder and other offenses in the death of Daniel Peek Sr.

By the end of the day, Morgan’s testimony was done, and the jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court heard closing arguments and began to deliberate. The jury will return this morning to continue deliberations. Judge Maureen Sweeney is presiding over the case.

Under questioning by one of his attorneys, Morgan seemed uncertain on how to explain himself at times, but told jurors what was going through his mind as he pulled up to Peek’s house on East Florida Avenue on the South Side, where he had gone to pick up his daughter and grandson for a family dinner on July 31, 2022.

He saw Peek Sr. on the porch and right away sensed that Peek was angry by the way Peek “was carrying himself with his arms up. I don’t know how best to describe it,” he said.

Morgan had a contentious phone conversation with Peek about six weeks earlier in which Peek, apparently intoxicated, asked Morgan to come over to fight. Morgan did not go, but he testified that he had “never seen any aggression from anyone” at that home before July 31, 2022.

His estranged wife, Mary Morgan, his daughter and grandson were living there at the time.

As seen in dashcam video from Morgan’s car, Morgan pulled into the driveway of the house and Peek started to come off the porch. Morgan said he “didn’t know” what to think of Peek’s apparently aggressive behavior. Morgan got out of his car and said he thought he had seen a board in Peek’s hand, but he said he later realized Peek was just holding a gate door on the porch.

Morgan agreed that he drove into the driveway kind of fast and explained that was because he wanted to have enough time to get his seat belt off and get out of the car because of Peek’s behavior and the “volatile situation” he could see developing.

Morgan said at that point, “I think I was putting two and two together” as to why Peek might be angry.

Peek’s attorney, Brandon Henderson, seemed to be playing devil’s advocate, asking Morgan why he didn’t leave after seeing Peek’s aggression. Morgan said it was because he did not know where his daughter and grandson were, adding, “I’m not just going to leave and leave them there.”

Morgan’s daughter and grandson were walking on the road. His daughter, Kaitlynn, had texted Morgan asking him to pick her and her young son up down the street, but didn’t say why. Morgan tried to find out by phone, but ended up texting her to “just meet me at the house.”

The dashcam video showed Morgan pulling out his gun as Peek took off his shirt and necklace in the driveway near the house. Morgan walked straight toward Peek and fired his gun into the ground as a warning, then swung the gun toward Peek’s head but apparently did not hit him with it, then tackled Peek to the ground. Peek slipped out from under Morgan. Then Peek’s son, Daniel Peek Jr., entered the fight, kicking or stomping Morgan in the head, followed by other blows delivered by the Peeks, mostly to Morgan’s head.

The video showed the younger Peek moving swiftly away from the fight, into the backyard, apparently after his father told him to leave. The video later showed Peek Sr. near Morgan as Morgan got to his knees, raised his arm holding the gun and fired it as the elder Peek ran toward the backyard. Peek was hit by the shot and died.

CROSS

EXAMINATION

During cross examination by Rob Andrews, county assistant prosecutor, Morgan was asked if he had tried to make Peek even more angry when they were on a phone call about six weeks before the shooting.

Morgan admitted that he told Peek that they had something in common: They had both “(had sex) with the same woman.”

Andrews asked Morgan why he told two Youngstown police detectives that the gun went off the first time when Morgan was “pulling it out of the holster.” Morgan did not seem to have an answer, and Andrews moved to the next question.

Andrews then asked Morgan why he told a Youngstown police detective that early in the confrontation, Peek “kicked my (butt) a little bit. The gun went off.” Andrews asked why Morgan would have said that the gun had gone off before any fighting had started. Morgan said, “I don’t recall.”

Andrews said Morgan told detectives that Peek “was fighting me” when Morgan swung his hand holding the gun toward Peek. The gun fell to the ground. The video showed that Peek had turned his head away from Morgan at that point and was not fighting.

“Did it look like he was fighting you?” Andrews asked.

“He wasn’t coming to talk to me,” Morgan replied. “Was he fighting you?” Andrews asked again.

“I interpreted it as him fighting. He wanted to fight,” Morgan said.

“Up till this time, we’ve seen (Peek) adjusting his chain or taking his chain off. We’ve seen you pull a gun out, fire into the ground, point it at his head. He turns around and then you swing the gun at him,” Andrews said.

“Has he done any kind of fighting?” Andrews asked.

“Again, I perceived it as a threat,” Morgan said. “I was trying to defend myself. You weren’t there. It happened very fast.”

PROSECUTION

In assistant prosecutor Pat Fening’s closing argument, he said the prosecution and defense agree that the best evidence in the case was the video of the confrontation and shooting of Daniel Peek Sr. But the two sides disagree on the issue of what was Morgan’s intent, Fening said.

“He’s on the ground,” Fening said of Morgan. “He grabs the gun. He sees Danny Peek (Sr.) running away from him. He points the gun and pulls the trigger.” Fening said. Fening added that Morgan admitted to detectives that he tried to keep shooting after the first shot.

Fening said the prosecution proved that Morgan was “at fault for creating the situation,” “had no reasonable grounds to believe imminent or immediate danger of death or great bodily harm,” and did not use reasonable force.

The prosecution only had to show one of those three, Fening told the jury.

“John (Morgan) drove to Danny’s house, got out of the car with a firearm, discharged a firearm, struck Danny with a firearm and took him to the ground. John was at fault for creating the situation that gave rise to Daniel Peek Sr.’s death,” Fening said.

Morgan had just watched Danny Peek Jr. run away, and then saw Danny Peek Sr. running away, Fening said. “Whatever danger was in the defendant’s mind … was running away from him,” Fening said.

DEFENSE

Defense attorney Brandon Henderson told the jury during his closing argument that he determined Morgan had less than one second between the time Morgan was able to recover his gun from the ground until the time he fired it at Peek Sr.

“God help any of us if we are ever in a situation where we’re beaten around like John was and we’re put in that position and in 0.8 seconds we’re supposed to make some type of rational decision. It’s just not possible. You’re asking the absolute impossible.”

He said to convict Morgan, the prosecution needs to show that Morgan acted intentionally and knowingly. But in case the jury does not find Morgan guilty of that, they also charged Morgan with “felony murder, which has the same penalties but it has a lower level of mental intent, so it’s not intentional now, only knowing.”

Henderson said, “We have a vital right as abiding citizens of the United States to legally protect ourselves and any time we are confronted by a life-threatening serious situation that could be … either life threatening and / or serious physical harm, we are allowed to use self-defense.”

He said the jurors should consider the level of assault Morgan took at the hands of the Peeks. “Go back in the jury room and knock yourself around in the head. Have each other kick around your skull like a soccer ball, because that’s actually what happened to John. See if you are able to actually make a rational decision at that point,” he said.

“You’ll see it’s just not possible, especially in .8 seconds. You’re asking him to make a mental, intentional decision — either intent or knowing — when you are … blurry, when your head is seeing stars,” he said.

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