Staff photo / Ed Runyan John E. Morgan reacts to remarks from one of his attorneys during Morgan’s sentencing hearing Thursday. He got 18 years to life for killing Daniel Peek Sr., 46, outside of Peek’s home on East Florida Avenue on Youngstown’s South Side on July 31, 2022.

YOUNGSTOWN — John E. Morgan was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison Thursday for fatally shooting Daniel Peek Sr., 46, outside of Peek’s home on East Florida Avenue on Youngstown’s South Side on July 31, 2022.

Morgan, 47, of Campbell, was convicted of murder, a gun specification and felonious assault at his February trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Morgan was found unresponsive in a cell in the Mahoning County jail about three hours after learning that he had been found guilty.

Authorities said Morgan apparently suffered a drug overdose. Deputies administered multiple doses of the opiate reversal drug Naloxone to Morgan, and he was revived, Sheriff Jerry Greene said.

His attorneys said in a recent filing that Morgan had been in a coma for about eight days after learning he had been found guilty. Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said Thursday he was not aware that Morgan had been in a coma while at the jail. Sheriff Jerry Greene on Thursday said he could not comment on that because of it possibly being private medical information.

The 18-years-to-life sentence perhaps was the highest sentence Morgan could have gotten. Judge Maureen Sweeney could have sentenced Morgan to additional time for the felonious assault on a conviction for pistol whipping Peek prior to shooting him.

But during the trial, as a dash-cam video from Morgan’s car was played for the jury, it was not clear whether Morgan hit Peek with the gun or just grazed Peek’s hair with it.

One of Morgan’s attorneys, Justin Weatherly, told Judge Sweeney during the hearing that it seemed that the judge only had one sentence she could give Morgan but said he hoped the sentencing would be “cathartic and helpful to the family of Daniel Peek and helps them move on. I know John (Morgan) feels the same way.”

Weatherly called the death of Daniel Peek Sr. a “confluence of unbelievably tragic events. I can name six, eight, 10, maybe a dozen things that contributed to all of us being here today, the removal of any one of which probably would have eliminated us being here today.”

He said one would have been if Morgan “was never the victim of a drive-by shooting and chose to carry a firearm after it.” He said “If John didn’t have the health problems he did.”

Weatherly said in talking to the jurors after the trial was over, “Not one of them believed that John went to that house with intent to cause any harm, much less kill anybody. I don’t believe anyone believes that is the case.”

He said Morgan “made some wrong choices in the heat of the moment and took a man’s life.”

Weatherly asked Morgan if he wanted to give remarks, and Weatherly came back saying Morgan is “suffering from some mental health issues since the verdict was delivered. He probably wasn’t the best public speaker to begin with. Under these circumstances, I don’t necessarily feel he’s going to do any better.”

Weatherly added that Morgan wrote “On that day, my intent wasn’t to cause anybody harm. It was to have chili dogs with my daughter and my grandson. And I’m sorry for the harm I’ve caused.”

As Weatherly made those remarks, Morgan put his face in his hands and cried.

Julie Hellman, a cousin of Daniel Peek who spoke during the hearing and spoke to reporters afterward, disagreed with much of what Weatherly said.

She said she believes the killing was all about Morgan’s ego. “He’s not even sorry he did this,” she said, adding “I believe he fully intended to do this.”

She said she and the Peek family are “happy that it’s done, and we are going to get closure. Not that we will ever have him back, but it’s something. We love him”

Daniel Peek Jr. gave a victim impact statement, saying “My dad was the greatest. He is the reason I am who I am because my dad was my hero, the man I looked up to since I was a kid. And he was taken from me so soon. I was only 17 when he was taken from me. John Morgan, I hope you spend the rest of your life behind bars.”

DAY OF SHOOTING

Testimony during the trial indicated that Morgan went to Peek Sr.’s house that day to pick up his daughter and her son to take them to a family dinner. His daughter lived at Peek Sr.’s house with her mother, Mary Morgan, who is John Morgan’s estranged wife.

During John Morgan’s testimony during his trial, he said when he pulled into Peek Sr.’s driveway, he saw Peek Sr. on the porch and right away sensed that Peek Sr. was angry by the way he “was carrying himself with his arms up. I don’t know how best to describe it,” John Morgan said.

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

As seen in dashcam video from his car, John Morgan pulled into the driveway of the house and Peek Sr. started to come off the porch. John Morgan then got out of his car and said he thought he had seen a board in Peek Sr.’s hand, but he said he later realized Peek Sr. was just holding a gate door on the porch.

John 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 Sr.’s behavior and the “volatile situation” he could see developing.

Brandon Henderson, one of John Morgan’s attorneys, seemed to be playing devil’s advocate, asking Morgan why he didn’t leave after seeing Peek Sr.’s aggression. John 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.”

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

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

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 John Morgan as he got to his knees, raised his arm holding the gun and fired it as the elder Peek ran toward the backyard. Peek Sr. was hit by the shot and died.

In closing arguments at the trial, Pat Fening, assistant county prosecutor, said the reason John Morgan went up to the Peek’s house that day was that he was angry with Peek Sr.

“He knew he wasn’t supposed to be at (Peek’s) house. He went there anyway. He went there to settle a score.”

Have an interesting story? Email Ed Runyan at erunyan@vindy.com.