TX) Teen not indicted for killing his father
Date: Jun 9, 2005 11:40 PM

Teen not indicted for killing his father

FORT WORTH – Casey Morgan didn’t plan on killing his father.

He just wanted him to stop.

But Arch Jack Morgan, 43, had been drinking and was angry.

Morgan was mad that he had been arrested outside his brother’s Fort Worth home the day before. He was enraged that his brother, fed up with his behavior, had told him that he was no longer welcome at his house.

“The whole day we were gathering up all of his stuff in the house, and we put it all in the porch so he wouldn’t have to come inside,” said Casey, who was 17 at the time of the shooting. “He just barged in anyway and started ripping some pictures off the wall. Then he started threatening us, and that’s when it happened. He was coming toward us pretty quick, and that’s when I did it.”

Casey picked up a shotgun his uncle kept for protection, leveled it at his fast-approaching father and fired once, killing him.

On Monday, a Tarrant County grand jury agreed that Casey was justified in the Jan. 11 shooting of his father and declined to indict the teen on a murder charge.

“There were some self-defense issues involved in the case,” prosecutor Tim Bednarz said.

For Casey, now 18, the no-bill was a “heavy relief.”

“Everyone told me not to worry, but there’s always that little bit of worry you have,” he said.

Trying to make peace

Arch Jack Morgan had a long history of trouble.

His criminal record in Tarrant County dates to 1981 and includes felony convictions for robbery by threat, assault and drug possession, according to court records.

He served time in prison and was on felony probation out of Oklahoma for spitting on a government employee.

“He was just wired wrong,” said Casey, a 2004 graduate of Sykes Academy in Fort Worth who lives with his mother in Haltom City.

“He was just crazy, so mentally ill it wasn’t even funny.”

Family members say they had witnessed or been victims of Morgan’s violence.

Although divorced from Morgan for more than a decade, Jodie Yancy said she had to have Haltom City police watch her home after Morgan made death threats against her.

Some, like Morgan’s brother, Tony Bradt, tried to get him help, but to no avail. Some washed their hands of the man.

Casey could not.

“He’s my dad; I can’t hate him,” Casey said.

Michele Audet, Casey’s attorney, described her client as a good kid with a “big, big heart.”

“The family has always said he was the peacemaker in the family,” Audet said. “He was the one who tried to get everyone to get along with his dad.”

A week before his father’s death, Casey arranged a meeting between his father and his father’s newborn grandson.

“My sister just had a baby, and she wasn’t going to let him meet him at all,” Casey said. “Just trying to keep peace, I actually convinced her to let him meet the baby in public.”

Yancy said her son longed for a normal father-son relationship.

“It’s not a relationship where Casey hated his dad,” Yancy said. “Casey prayed for his dad and a relationship with his dad every day.”

Receiving threats

It was the first of two times that Fort Worth police would be called to the home in the 3000 block of Haynie Street that week in January.

On Jan. 10, officers responding to a 911 call found Morgan, staggering and with bloodshot eyes, arguing with family members outside the home.

Casey, who had been living with Bradt for three weeks, said he and his uncle had to keep his father from assaulting Bradt’s girlfriend. He said his father even threatened the girlfriend’s life in front of officers.

According to a police report, Morgan briefly tried to run from officers but was captured and handcuffed. Officers found a marijuana pipe in his pants pocket.

Morgan was taken to the Mansfield Jail, where, according to the report, he was cash bonded on a hold for public intoxication and written a possession of drug paraphernalia citation.

Family members were mad that Morgan wasn’t held for longer and on more serious charges, such as evading arrest and assault by threats.

Upset that her ex-husband had been released from jail, Yancy called police to complain.

Morgan was making his own phone calls, his son said.

“He was calling in the middle of the night and saying he was coming to lock the house up and he was going to burn the house up with us in it,” Casey said.

When Morgan arrived at the house the next day in a state of fury, Casey was afraid his dad would carry out his threats to kill him, Bradt and Bradt’s girlfriend. Morgan was carrying a 40-ounce beer and wearing a black leather glove — one he wore for fighting.

Inside the cramped living room, Morgan shouted “Your time is up” and then lunged at his brother, witnesses told police.

Morgan was not brandishing a weapon, but at 6 feet 4 inches, he “didn’t need one,” Casey said.

“He was incredibly strong,” Casey said. “He’s the strongest man I’ve ever seen.”

Casey, who was standing next to his uncle, quickly grabbed the shotgun and pulled the trigger, shooting his father in the chest.

He said he felt he had no other choice.

“I shot him for a reason,” Casey said. “I didn’t make him come in there and try to hurt us and kill us or whatever he was trying to do. I don’t feel guilty.

“I feel bad, but I don’t feel guilty.”