POTTSTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Kevin Morgan, 35, was found guilty of third-degree murder Thursday in the 2023 shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend.
Morgan admitted he shot and killed 38-year-old Derek Mayo while Morgan’s ex-girlfriend was at his house picking up their 12-year-old daughter.
Prosecutors argued the shooting was intentional, deliberate and premeditated, making it first-degree murder, while Morgan claimed it was self-defense, and his lawyer argued, at worst, it was the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
But after 3 ½ hours of deliberations, a Montgomery County jury found Morgan guilty of third-degree murder.
“The law states that for it to be voluntary manslaughter, there has to be some type of sudden provocation, a heat of passion which was not in existence in this case, and the jury saw that there was nothing that happened, nothing that prevented him from simply walking away,” said Prosecutor Allison Ruth.
Morgan testified Mayo had threatened him several times in the past, because Mayo was associated with two men who killed Morgan’s friend in West Chester in 2012, and Morgan testified against those men.
Morgan and his wife both claimed Mayo was reaching toward his waistband when Morgan shot him, but Mayo was unarmed.
“It's horrific. Why adults have to act this way when children are being exchanged between their parents — this never should have happened,” Ruth said. “He could have at any point simply left but instead he perpetuated and instigated a fight and then shot an unarmed man.”
Morgan will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum sentence of about 30-60 years.